Ascension of the Assassin
by thewookiemonster
Summary: Desmond is officially an Assassin but is now faced with a new ability: accessing memories on his own without getting lost between memory and reality during their biggest mission yet: finding the Pieces of Eden before Abstergo. Sequel to Art of Subversion
1. Always on the Run

**Note: If you have not read The Art of Subversion, do not read this. It will make no sense to you, so please read that first!! Just go to my profile page and click on that story. This is a sequel!!!**

OK, now that I cleared that up, this is part two of my story. This chapter just sets the stage for the story so no violence or sexual content, and minimal language. Enjoy!!!

* * *

**2012**

"Lucy" Desmond whispered. "Lucy, I need to talk to you!"

Lucy stirred at the sound of Desmond voice.

Desmond tapped her gently on her shoulder. "Lucy, wake up!"

She inhaled through her nose as she woke up. "What is it, Desmond?" she asked.

He helped Lucy sit up next to him and held her hands tightly in his. "Something…strange…has happened."

That caring look for which Lucy was notorious penetrated Desmond's heart. He now hated to see her look at him like that because he knew that deep down inside, she was afraid for him.

"Tell me, Desmond," Lucy urged him as she scooted closer to him. She removed one of her hands from inside his hands and placed it on his left shoulder.

"I--I think I just accessed one of Altair's memories."

Lucy's expression quickly changed to a surprised look. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive. I feel just like I did each time I got out of the Animus. But that's not all."

"You mean there is more?" Lucy asked interrupting Desmond.

"Yeah." He felt like he was repeating himself, but he continued. "Remember all the Codex pages that Altair wrote and how he said he used the Apple to see visions and such?"

Lucy nodded her head but said nothing.

"Well, in this memory, he opened the Apple one last time and saw…me."

Confused, Lucy asked, "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Even though the memory I saw wasn't him actually seeing this vision, I still saw what he saw. I guess it came with the memory. And I was in Paris and I assassinated the president of France. But I don't know why or when," Desmond explained.

Lucy's eyes searched the room as she tried to wrap her mind around what Desmond had just told her. "The only reason we would want him assassinated is if he was involved with the Templars, Abstergo, or this Order Shaun was talking about. We still don't know much about them yet."

"Right, and there is one other thing. Altair referred to me as the 'Ultimate Assassin'. What does that mean?" Desmond asked. He hoped Lucy, who knew more about the Assassins than he did, would be able to tell him.

"There is an old legend about an Ultimate Assassin. He was prophesized to be the greatest warrior ever but after several years of no one who fit the profile, it became just a myth. I don't know much other than that."

"But why would Altair call me that? I'm just a regular guy in a fucked up situation. I just now am able to slice a guy without gagging over it twenty minutes later."

"You still don't get it do you?" Lucy smiled as she asked.

"Get what?"

"You are more than just Desmond Miles. Right now, you are the only hope we have at riding the world of those Templar bastards. And if this Order is as intertwined with the Assassin's as Shaun thinks, you may be the only one to unravel their influence over ever Assassin affected by them. And if you really can access memories without the Animus…"

"I'm literally like a breathing history book," Desmond said dully.

"Well I was going to go with 'you have a major weapon against our enemies', but that works, too," Lucy teased. She returned to serious mode. "But you need to let me, Shaun, or Rebecca know when you are going to try to access any more memories. We need to monitor you while you are out."

Desmond shook his head in agreement. "Alright." He felt a headache explode inside his head. It was borderline migraine. "Ugh!" Desmond felt his hands crawl up his face and rub the top of his head.

"What is it?!" Lucy asked nervously.

"Damn headache," he replied.

"Is it as bad as the one you had yesterday?" Lucy asked.

"No, thankfully."

Lucy brought her head down slightly so her eyes could meet Desmond's. "You want to take anything for it?"

"No, I'm fine." He glanced over at the clock next to the room window. "It's almost two AM. I'm just gonna try to go back to sleep."

"OK. Come here," Lucy said. She lay across the couch with her back to the corner of the couch. As she was leaning backwards, she grabbed Desmond and gently pulled him towards her, letting his head rest against her chest.

Desmond felt her left arm wrap around his back as the other gently stroked the left side of his face. He let his hand travel across her chest and rest on her right shoulder. "I love you, Lucy."

"I love you too, Desmond."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**One Week Later**

"Well, it seems as though you will be leaving us today Mr. Hastings," Andrea said happily. "You are all healed up and ready to go!"

"Thank God, I can't stand this place anymore. If I had to describe hell, I would describe this hospital." Shaun was annoyed that he had to stay in bed the entire time. He still was in denial that he was paralyzed.

"Would it be possible to give him some drugs to make him, uh…happier?" Desmond asked jokingly.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up, Desmond?" Shaun retorted.

If Andrea hadn't spent enough time with the group and recognized the close bond the four had with each other, she would have thought Desmond and Shaun would have taken each other's heads off.

"As you wish." Desmond bowed his head and flipped his arm out as it Shaun was some sort of emperor or king.

Rebecca and Lucy both returned from their absence with a wheelchair in which Shaun could leave the hospital.

"Do I really have to ride in that bloody thing?" Shaun pleaded.

"Lisa got you a rather nice electronic chair. It's in the back of your truck. She even had them rig it up for loading and unloading," Andrea sympathetically explained.

Desmond was dying to make a joke about a pimped out HoverRound chair but with Lucy and Rebecca in the room, he refrained.

Rebecca walked up to the bed and kissed Shaun on the forehead. "Here, we got you some clothes to change into."

"Great! Now I don't have to hide my ass from you guys anymore!" Shaun joked.

"Need help?" Rebecca asked eagerly.

"Uhh, well I'll go wait in the hall while Rebecca 'helps' you get dressed," Desmond said awkwardly.

"Me too," Lucy said as she turned on her heel and followed Desmond out.

Andrea followed Lucy to the entrance way and hid there to give Shaun some privacy. She stayed in the room just in case her help was needed.

When Lucy got outside the door, she saw Desmond leaned up against the opposite wall with his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. His head was lowered but his eyes cut up at her as he gave her a subtle yet seductive grin at her.

"What?" she asked sheepishly.

"Nothing. It's just you missed one of your buttons on your top."

"Shit!" she exclaimed loudly. All the nurses that were in the hall heard her were appalled as they looked at her angrily.

"Sorry," she said as she buttoned the top two buttons on her top that she forgot to button. She and Desmond had snuck into one of the vacant rooms the night, made love, and then had to rush to put their clothes back on that morning when they woke up.

"God woman, watch your language," Desmond teased.

Lucy gave Desmond the finger and received some other disappointed looks from other nurses who witnessed the act. "I just can't win here, can I?" she asked as she threw her hands up.

"Nope," Desmond replied with a chuckle.

Lucy stood against the wall opposite Desmond and the two threw each other grins and smiles as they stared at each other. Their attention quickly shifted to Shaun who was being wheeled out of his room.

"Hey there, Wheels!" Desmond shouted as he walked over to the now mobile Shaun.

"I resent that comment." Shaun smiled when he couldn't force himself to look stern anymore. "Let's get out of this hell-hole."

"Right behind ya…literally!" Desmond exclaimed as he offered to wheel Shaun toward the elevator.

Lucy and Rebecca hung back to talk to Andrea and Lisa who was walking towards them.

"Is there any chance he will be able to walk again?" Lucy asked.

"It is possible. People in his exact condition have recovered and been able to walk with the aide of a cane or walker. Don't expect it, but it is probable," Lisa explained.

"That's good news though. I mean he could be bedridden," Rebecca countered.

"Exactly, he has made a remarkable recovery in his three weeks here," Lisa replied.

"What do we need to do to help his recovery?" Lucy inquired.

Andrea got Lucy's attention by clearing her throat and started to explain. "I talked it over with Rebecca. She and Shaun have both agreed that she will be the one to take care him while he recovers. I told her exactly what to do."

"Are you sure, Rebecca?" Lucy asked with concern.

"Yeah, since I don't have to watch over 'Baby' anymore, I can dedicate more attention to Shaun. You just worry about Desmond," Rebecca assured her.

Lucy nodded, thanked Lisa and Andrea for all of their help, and walked with Rebecca to the elevator.

"So where are we going now?" Rebecca asked.

"There is safe house in Princeton, New Jersey. We will be safe there for a few weeks at least."

"New Jeresy? Really? Can't we go somewhere down south? All this snow and cold rain is starting to piss me off!" Rebecca complained.

Lucy was confused. "But you have lived here for, like, almost the past decade."

"And I have been pissed off for the past decade!"

The two giggled the entire trip in the elevator where they saw Desmond pushing Shaun in his wheelchair like a madman. "AIYAH!!" Desmond shouted.

"Get out of the way!" Shaun yelled with excitement. He had coaxed Desmond into pushing him as fast as he could around the lobby scaring the hell out of nurses and visitors.

"Dear God, this is going to be one hell of a journey," Lucy blankly stated in disgust at the boy's activities.

"Well, look at the bright side. At least they are finally getting along," Rebecca shrugged.

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There it is!!! I am continuing this story at your request! I had to change story titles though because the other made no sense for this part. I hope that statement wasn't confusing. Like usual, let me know of any errors or confusing bits. I have not proof read this one like I try to do to my others, so if there are any grammatical errors I apologize. Let me know if there are any major ones in your reviews.

Thanks for taking time to read this story as well as my other!! And thank you for reviewing!!!

Hope to see you in the next chapter!!!


	2. Close Your Eyes

So here it is, chapter 2. It would have been up earlier but because I was up late watching Empire Strikes Back, I feel asleep at my comp. I apologize. Then this morning the internet was jacked up and not allowing me to upload the document and its has been hell.

This chapter was difficult to write. I'm not sure if it is because I hate writing crap that sets the stage for the main events or if it had to do with my sinus headache. Anyways, I did my best.... :|

You know the drill: In your reviews, make corrections, compliments, and constructive criticism. Thanks a bunch!!!

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After Desmond helped Shaun lift himself inside the back seat of their SUV, he pushed the wheelchair back inside the hospital. Some of the nurses ran out of the way afraid that Desmond would run around the lobby like an idiot again with the wheelchair.

"Desmond, you can ride shotgun. I'll hang in the back seat with Shaun," Rebecca informed Desmond as he walked back to the truck.

"Don't get carried away back there!" Desmond responded as he joined Lucy in the front seat.

Rebecca sighed in annoyance. "Would you just drop that already? It's not like me and Shaun had sex in the hospital. That's just messed up."

There was a dead silence between Lucy and Desmond that spread through the entire truck.

"I'd prefer it if we just got on our way instead of talking about who is having sex with who. Is that OK?" Shaun asked irritated by the delay.

"Yeah," Lucy squawked in response.

"What an awkward trip this is going to be," Desmond thought.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had been on the road for a good five hours when they finally stopped to refuel.

Desmond offered to gas up the truck while Lucy got some refreshments and snacks for the group.

Lucy poked her head back inside the cab after she hopped out. "You want anything Shaun. I know it's just convenient store crap but…"

"Just get me a bag of Hot Cheetos, a Twix, some beef jerkey, and a bottle of Fiji water," Shaun interrupted.

Rebecca was baffled by his request. "All that junk food and you want Fiji water to wash it down?"

"Or a bottle of Coke is fine, too," Shaun retorted.

"I'll get the water…" Lucy said as she backed away from the cab. As she walked towards the store, she could hear muffled arguing coming from the truck. She turned around for a quick glance and saw Desmond shaking his head as he leaned up against the truck.

Lucy just smiled as she opened the entrance to the convenient store.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Within two days, they arrived at the safe house.

"Well, here it is," Lucy exclaimed.

As Desmond guessed, it was a house located somewhere on a secluded farm.

"It's nice and homey," Rebecca commented. She was relieved she wasn't stuck in another warehouse. A small house would be a wonderful change of accommodation for a change.

"Yeah, well that's fine and dandy and all, but can someone _please_ help me out of this bloody truck?" Shaun pleaded. "My ass is starting to cramp from the lack of cushion in this blasted seat."

"We can get you a donut cushion to put in your chair if that would make you feel any better," Desmond teased as he climbed out of the truck.

"Actually, that is not a bad idea," Shaun replied after thinking about the suggestion.

"Let's get your chair out before we lift you out," Lucy butted in.

Lucy unloaded the chair using the system Lisa had some assistants install and brought it over next to Shaun. "Ready?"

"Damn straight!"

All three of them helped lower Shaun into his new chair with which he already started to fall in love.

Shaun patted his lap and asked Rebecca if she wanted a ride inside.

As she gently set herself on his lap, Lucy face writhed in disgust. "Oh God, I can't watch this any more! Come on Desmond, help me unload the trailer."

"No problem, Lucy" Desmond answered, relieved.

Desmond was still at the back of the trailer when Lucy came back to grab something else. His face was against the inside of the trailer door and he was mumbling something in Arabic.

"Desmond, are you alright?" Lucy asked. She stood at his side and pushed his shoulder so he would turn and face her. "Oh my God!!"

His eyes were a foggy white and were glazed over. Through all of the Arabic he was speaking, the only thing she understood was 'My name is Altair.'

"Desmond! It's Lucy! Snap out of it! You aren't Altair; you're Desmond! Come on, come back to me!" Lucy pleaded. It was as if he didn't even hear her. "Damnit!" Hesitantly, she drew her hand back and forcefully slapped Desmond's face.

He fell backwards into the trailer which shocked Lucy. She never knew she could slap someone that hard.

Desmond sat up with a look of shock on his face. "What the hell did I do?"

"Oh thank God," Lucy sighed.

"What? Why the hell did you slap me?" he demanded.

Lucy raised one of her eyebrows. "You mean you don't know?"

"No. I was just standing here about to pick up the last two duffle bags ah-a-a-and you slapped me!"

"You were mumbling something in Arabic and your eyes were hazy and white. You were saying that you were Altair and the only think I thought to do was slap you. It worked last time!" Lucy explained as she helped Desmond up.

"I don't remember saying any of that. Oh God, you don't think I'm losing it do you?" he asked. The past few times he had one of his companions in his mind take over, he was at least aware of it and could fight back. But this time was different and he was now beginning to panic.

"Of course not. Why don't you go inside and sit down. I'll finish unpacking and then we can hook you up to the monitors and check your brain activity. Maybe that can tell us something."

"What do I tell Shaun and Rebecca?" Desmond asked. He honestly sounded fearful for his life which was a heavy blow to Lucy's heart. She couldn't bear to see him appear like a helpless child because it made her feel powerless to help him.

"Nothing. I'll tell them when I get back inside. Just sit down." Lucy kissed him gently on the lips.

Desmond nodded and made his way for the entrance. "Come guys, this isn't the time to be experimenting with my mind!" he whispered to his ancestors.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Your vitals are fine Desmond, but your brain activity is going haywire. Are you sure you don't feel any pain? No headaches?" Rebecca asked.

"None. What do you mean haywire?" Desmond answered.

"Well you see these squiggly lines?" Rebecca paused and then continued after Desmond nodded. "They are abnormally…squiggly…which usually indicates the person being monitored is in heavy thought. Most of the time, they are in deep sleep or having a nightmare. Do you see where I am going with this?"

"Yeah, but I haven't been in 'heavy thought' as you put it and I'm definitely not asleep, although this is a lot like a nightmare." Desmond stated coldly.

Shaun wheeled himself in with the touch of the joystick on the right arm rest. "Did we ever check his brain activity back at the warehouse?" he asked.

"No. What are you getting at?" Lucy inquired.

Shaun pushed up his glasses with his index finger as he prepared to explain. "He has three other men, other minds, living inside his head. Maybe that is the reason for the extra activity. It's just a thought."

"So what does that mean?" Desmond asked impatiently.

"It would appear that even though you are in control over your mind, Altair, Ezio, and 16 are able to think for themselves. This doesn't affect you or your actions, but it would explain these readings. The last time 16 took over, you said it was as if Altair and Ezio were working together to subdue him, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Then my theory is accurate. For 16 to be able to want and actually control your actions and then for the others to restrain him, that is pure independence," Shaun continued.

"But what does that have to do with what just happened?" Desmond was thankful for Shaun's knowledge and explanation, but it didn't help him feel any better.

"The best answer I can come up with is that you are like a record player. For whatever reason, you were looping some possible memory of Altair's subconsciously." Even though he didn't show it, Shaun was starting to fear for Desmond's well being as well.

"Shit!" Lucy exclaimed as she emerged from deep thought.

"What is it?" Rebecca probed.

"I can't believe I forgot about this. Back when 16 was at Abstergo, the same thing happened to him. It was when he first started merging his memories with reality." Lucy looked at Desmond who had a look of terror on his face. "His situation was far more advanced than yours, Desmond. Slapping him never brought him back to reality. Vidic literally had to torture him, make him feel unbearable pain, to snap him out of it."

"That is why 16 is so fucked up," Desmond thought to himself. "So what do we do?" he asked.

Lucy hated the answer but swore she would be completely honest with Desmond. She wouldn't break a promise, especially one to him. "There is nothing we can do. Even the best doctors at Abstergo couldn't help 16. I hate to sound so damn negative…"

"There may be something we can do." Shaun offered.

"What?" Lucy, Desmond, and Rebecca asked in unison.

"I can spend some time with Desmond and help him perfect his ability to access memories. We can all agree that that is the cause of this new problem. Edward had some research on a flash drive that was in his briefcase about 16 that may assist us. It's the best solution we have," Shaun explained.

"If you think it will help," Desmond shrugged. "I'm up for anything at this point."

Shaun nodded and turned his chair to face the hall that led to the bedrooms. "Then we will start tomorrow if that's OK with you."

"Yeah," Desmond answered.

"Alright, well we should all go to bed. After that trip and with all of this, we all could use some sleep," Rebecca said. She wanted to help Desmond as much as she could, but right now, she was too tired.

"That sounds like a good idea," Lucy agreed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Desmond was flat on his back, asleep. Sweat was practically pouring from every sweat gland on his body. What started as gentle stirring in his sleep turned into mild thrashing. Moans started resonating in his throat as he tossed and turned. Suddenly, he woke from his sleep and quickly sat up. His breaths were heavy and his muscles ached.

Lucy pulled the sheet up to cover her bare chest as she sat up next to him. "Are you alright?"

He let out a heavy sigh before he answered. "Yeah. Just a bad dream."

"You wanna talk about it?" Lucy asked as she placed her right hand on his left shoulder and then rested her chin on her hand.

"No…I…What if it gets worse and I end up like 16?"

"That's not going to happen," she reassured him.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I won't let it. We _will_ take care of you. And if that vision Altair had is real…you won't end up like him. You can't." Lucy could see the tears that were starting to fall down Desmond's face.

"But I don't want to become some cold blooded, cold hearted Assassin. I'm afraid I'd lose you," he confessed.

"You won't. I told you once before that I'll always be here for you. Nothing has or ever will change."

Desmond nodded his head as he tried to fight back more tears. He plopped his head back on his pillow and Lucy followed his example. He scooted over closer to her and placed his head on her right shoulder and wrapped his right arm around her.

"It will be OK Desmond, I promise."

He lifted his head so his eyes were above hers. Their lips met for a few moments and then Desmond placed his head back on her shoulder.

"Goodnight, Luce."

"Night, Dez."

* * *

I am also taking any ideas you have for this story. I am only writing it because so many people wanted me to continue, so throw me your ideas. If I can make them work, I will be more than happy to do it!!

Happy New Year everyone!

**2009 was great, and I'm sorry this chapter is late!!**

(Like my little rhyme there?? teehee)


	3. Gotta Have Faith

I am so terribly sorry for the long wait. With the holidays and all, my so called "high speed wireless connection" was acing slow due to people on vacation and bogging down the server. They are like blood clots slowing the flow of blood. Since most people's vacation is now over, connection is now free of blockage.

Anyways, people have been asking for hardcore Desmond/Lucy and Shaun/Rebecca scenes. This chapter....will contain neither of those. But I promise they will shortly grace this story with their presence. It's obvious Shaun and Rebecca are now in a relationship, but I'm waiting for the right moment to add details. Their private relationship, to me at least, adds to the cuteness of their pairing. It's like they are being secretive and discrete without being so discrete. Just be patient.

Without further ado (I like this phrase...), here is chapter 3!!

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_Ahh! A real kitchen with a real dining room. And the sweet smell of a 100% all natural leather couch. The only thing missing is big ass TV, a PlayStation, some Uncharted and I will be good to go. Now that I think about it, Nathan Drake sure does sound a lot like…_

"Desmond!" Rebecca shouted mid thought. "How are you doing?"

Desmond had just woken up to the smell of coffee but since he was still half asleep, Rebecca's eagerness startled him. "Oh, hey!" he piped after jumping in alarm. "Ah, I'm doing alright. Coffee sure does smell good."

When they were on the road a few days ago, the group unanimously agreed that if it weren't for coffee, all of them would be passed out somewhere never to wake up again. That, ultimately, would mean bye-bye world. So in their eyes, fresh, hot coffee was as important to their mission as Desmond.

"Yeah, it's ready if you want some," Rebecca informed him.

"Thanks. How is Shaun doing?"

A proud grin beamed over Rebecca's face.

Desmond was afraid of what was about to burst out of her lips. First, he knew she would most likely yell it. Second, with the way Shaun and Rebecca had been acting, God only knows what happened in their room last night.

"He is still working on the project you two will be, uh…working on." Rebecca usually hated repeating phrases because she thought it made her vocabulary seem diminutive compared to the others. But, she knew Desmond wouldn't care. "He hates that it is taking this long to prepare, but he wants it to be as safe and perfect as he can get it."

"I really need to thank him for this one day…but don't tell him I said that."

Rebecca chuckled. "I won't. Where is Lucy?"

Desmond rocked his head towards the hallway. "Still asleep. At least I think…."

"Ah. Well I'm going to see how Shaun is doing. Oh, I whipped up a few breakfast tacos, if you feel inclined, and some bagels are out. Knock yourself out."

"Thanks, Becky!" Desmond giggled as showed his gratitude.

Rebecca smiled back. She stood up and as she made her way down the hall, she couldn't help but think how lucky she was. Lucy was like the sister she never had, Shaun has become a part of her life she never thought could possibly exist, and she had one of her best friends back. Even if the world ended and her time on Earth was over, she would die a happy woman.

"Shit! Where is the damn creamer?" Desmond whispered in exasperation as he searched the cabinets and refrigerator. It was amazing to him that even though they had only been at the safe house two days, Lucy and Rebecca managed to load the kitchen up with food.

"There you are you little devil." He grabbed two mugs, filled them with coffee, and fixed one up with creamer and sugar. The other he left straight black. He picked up the now full mugs and carefully made his way down the hallway.

"Still asleep…" he thought to himself as he stared at the blonde in the bed. He set one of the mugs on the night stand by Lucy's side of the bed not bothering to be quiet about it.

The noise of the mug clanking on the table and the heavenly aroma was enough to wake Lucy. She pulled the sheet to cover herself as she sat up and asked, "You are making a strange habit of bringing me coffee every morning. And you even fixed it up this time."

A smile etched on his face as he noticed the horrible, tangled mess her hair was in. "Just being a gentleman."

"You don't have to do that you know," Lucy explained as she gratefully held the mug up to her nose with one hand as the other hand held the sheets close to her neck.

"In my opinion, I do. It is obvious I am never going to live a normal life ever again. So, I am going to make the best of the situation at hand and bring as much normalcy to my life as possible."

Lucy's expression was understanding and almost sympathetic as Desmond first started to explain his actions. Unlike her, he knew what it was like to live a carefree life. She never knew that life.

"Besides, I like seeing your hair look like shit every morning. It's cute," Desmond continued.

With that comment, Lucy's face turned sour. If her hands weren't full at the moment, she would have thrown him the finger, a pillow, or something small and handy within her reach. But one word was all that she would be tossing his way.

"Ass," she mumbled.

Desmond giggled as he took a sip of coffee. "Fuhk!" he screamed. He hadn't taken into consideration that since Lucy's coffee had creamer in it, the liquid was cool. His on the other hand…

"I buhnt meh tonguh!"

Lucy laughed devilishly as she watched Desmond hang his head in shame.

His eyes cut back up at her, head still pointed downward as he smiled sheepishly. "It's not funny."

Her lips tightened as she tried not to smirk. "Yeah it is," she said with a faint giggle in her voice.

"Well you just laugh it up. While you are in here sleeping and snoring like a bear during hibernation, I have been doing work," Desmond retorted, his head held proudly.

"Really?" Lucy said in disbelief.

"Well, sort of. I have been, independently, trying to separate memories and hallucinations from what is really going on. I have only tried it twice but so far, I have made progress!"

"So you are able to realize you are having a hallucination?" Lucy inquired as she set het mug back down on the night stand.

"So far, yes. I had Rebecca, who for whatever reason gets up at the ass crack of dawn, keep an eye on me yesterday morning. I haven't had a chance to work on it today."

Lucy was disappointed that Desmond didn't bother to inform her of his activities, but she didn't bring it up. "Well that's good. Have you heard anything from Shaun yet?"

"No. Just that he is finishing up his project as we speak. Rebecca made it sound like he should be ready today, at least I hope," Desmond admitted with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Hey, if there is anyone more qualified to deal with this problem, it's Shaun. I don't deal with the effects of certain things to the brain; I just know how to analyze and predict them. Vidic failed to realize that back at Abstergo."

Desmond let out a sigh of defeat. "I know. I just wish this wasn't happening. Things just started to go smoothly…"

"It's just a hiccup," Lucy interrupted. At least that was all she hoped it was. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. If you work on it, you can control it. I know you can."

How could she seem so sure of herself? She had all this faith in him and he hadn't the slightest idea why. But he had to prove himself to her. Not for the pleasure of proving he could do it, but to prove her right. He wasn't going to let her down.

"Thanks." He walked up to the edge of the bed and stole a kiss from her unsuspecting lips. "You should shower and get dressed. We can't have you looking like a buffoon all day."

Before she could protest, Desmond left the room and closed the door.

"Ass," she mumbled to herself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So, how is this going to work?" Desmond asked as he entered the office of the house where Shaun was located.

"Well, with some incense, lightening, and ambient sounds, I am going to try to trigger a memory of any of your ancestors. Then your job is to stay focused as you puppet the memory so you are still aware of what is going on in present time. I'm trying to make it sound as simple as possible, but I am having a hard time explaining it," Shaun tried to clarify.

"No I think I get the gist of it."

"Good, well then let's get started." Shaun wheeled over to the desk at which Desmond was sitting and lit some candles and some other smelly stuff with which Desmond was not familiar.

"Stuff smells…horrible…geez…Are you sure this is going to work? Right now I feel like I am going to puke!" Desmond exclaimed as he placed his hands over his mouth and nose. "Fuck, I got it in my mouth!"

Shaun was putting on some soft, Arabic music in the background. He laughed and said, "You will get used to it soon. Now, obviously with the smells and the music playing…"

Desmond interrupted. "We are targeting Altair."

"Precisely. Now, have you ever meditated before?" Shaun inquired.

"Uhh, I did yoga once," Desmond shrugged.

"Ok, well what you will need to do is similar to that. Just, uh, minus the bending and folding."

"Got it. No downward dog. Then what?" Desmond asked.

"That is the tricky part. You will need to focus solely on Altair while you are meditating. Toss everything that is not relative to Altair. If it helps, you can lay down on that couch as if you were in the Animus. Replicating the scenario of how you first accessed Altair's memories could help you until you can do this on your own."

Desmond's eyebrows perked up. As he sat down on the couch, he asked, "So, do you really think this can work? Me reliving my ancestors' past without a machine?"

"Edward believed in it. In fact, he got the idea from his father."

Desmond tried to ask questions about Edward's role with the Order, but Shaun's enthusiasm and relentless tongue prevented him from doing so.

Shaun continued, "I am not 100 percent certain how true this is but as a child, I overheard my step father talking about members of the Order who had the ability to instantly gain access or knowledge of the past. They were considered the elite of the elite. Upon further research of Edward's most confidential files, I discovered exactly what my step father meant." Shaun paused and started writing something down in his notebook.

"And that would be...?" Desmond insisted.

Shaun jerked his head up as he woke from the hypnotism of his work. "Oh, uh, yeah. Basically, those elite 'Orderlies' could do exactly what you are trying to do now. So to answer your question, yes, I do believe this will work."

"Aight. If you have faith, then so do I," Desmond said trustingly. He lied down on the couch and said, "Let's get this party started."

"Wonderful! As I stated earlier, focus exclusively on Altair. Concentrate. You have felt his emotions, feelings, and intentions. Let those flow through you. Embrace it and…" Shaun stopped when he noticed Desmond's eyes close and start to twitch. "That was quick," he thought to himself. "Desmond, what are you seeing?"

"Altair. His finger. They cut it off," Desmond mumbled.

"So you can still hear me talking to you as you see and hear Altair's memory?" Shaun inquired.

Desmond nodded his head but said nothing.

"Desmond, I need you to answer me verbally."

"Yeah," Desmond responded quietly.

"How old are you?" Shaun questioned.

"25." Desmond's answers were monotone.

"What is my name?"

"Shaun Hastings."

Shaun sighed in relief and wrote down some more illegible notes. "Whenever you are ready Desmond, you can eject yourself from the memory. Doing that is similar to how you voluntarily ejected from an Animus induced memory."

Some time went by and after a few attempts, Desmond successfully ejected from Altair's past and was back to the present.

"How do you feel?" Shaun asked with concern.

"Like I was bartending all night without a break, then got beat up by a drunken gang banger for not serving his drink as he asked," Desmond said as he rubbed his face.

Shaun raised an eyebrow as he stared at Desmond. "Well, you were in Altair's memories for about two hours. Let us call it a day and get some dinner."

"Sounds good." As Desmond stood up and saw Shaun wheeling away, he quickly ran over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks again, for everything."

"You're welcome. Now get your hand off of me and wipe that mushy look off of your face before the girls see it. I don't want them questioning what we are doing in here."

Desmond jerked his hand away from Shaun's shoulder as if he were jerking his hand from an open flame. "Sorry."

The guys made their way into the den which was next to the kitchen.

"So what is for dinner, babe?" Shaun asked Rebecca.

_"__Chicken tetrazzini," Rebecca proudly exclaimed. _

_"__Chicken what?" Desmond asked. "Why can't we have regular food around here?"_

___

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_

Thanks for R/R and let me know what you think. Good reviews, critical reviews, and out right ridiculous reviews are appreciated and accepted.

Hope you enjoyed it!!


	4. To Be, Or Not To Be

Well, the only positive thing about being stuck at home with a relentless head cold is the free time. I was able to crank out this chapter and gather ideas for the next. I am also in a dark, morbid mood (I have been watching a Law and Order SVU marathon today), so things may get dark here soon. I already know how the story will end and as a little teaser, it will be intense and you may hate me for the outcome. That is all I have to say. I am holding my peace.

Oh, I just checked and noticed that my very first story has over 6,000 hits!! *Throws confetti in the air, plays some Salsa music, and dances with my dog* Thank you guys so much! I never thought that to be possible.

Without further ado, here is chapter 4. Enjoy!!!

* * *

It had been about two days since Shaun and Desmond first started the memory sessions. With a mix of successful and non successful attempts, Desmond finally mastered the process.

Desmond had just accessed a memory belonging to 16. Shaun suggested it was a bad move, but Desmond disagreed.

"Are you still with me, Desmond?" Shaun asked.

"Yeah, Shaun." Desmond replied in a whisper.

Desmond was sitting up on the couch while he was in 16's memory. Shaun was impressed that he was adapting and successfully making progress with this difficult technique. The Brit wheeled back over to the desk to check on some notes he had previously written. After scribbling some updates down, he turned his chair around when he noticed Desmond was sweating and twitching slightly.

"Desmond, all you alright?" Shaun asked with desperation. He kept his voice down in fear of frightening the girls.

"No! Stop it you bastard!" Desmond shouted in a whisper. His face was now red, possibly with anger, and his veins were bugling out of his forehead, neck, and temples.

"Desmond, what is it? What are you seeing?" Shaun questioned.

"I have to help her! Leave her alone!"

"It's just a memory Desmond. Remember? Calm down!" Shaun pleaded. He wheeled his chair closer to the livid Assassin on the couch. "Desmond. Listen to the sound of my voice. It is all in the past. Whatever is going on, you cannot stop it."

"But he is trying to rape her! I can't let the bastard touch her!" Desmond was now exasperated.

"Who?" Shaun asked.

"Lucy."

Shaun's eyes widened at the name that escaped Desmond's quivering lips. "Who is trying to hurt her?"

"That bastard Vidic." Desmond voice was now stern with fury.

Shaun was intimidated by the look of Desmond's face and the sound of his voice, but he was not going to act on fear. "Desmond, Lucy is fine. She is in the other room. Now please, calm down and let go of what you are seeing."

"I can't. I have to save her!"

"Damnit!" Shaun shouted.

Lucy heard Shaun's loud swearing and poked her head inside the door. "Everything OK?"

Startled by her presence, Shaun's voice was squeaky. "Something has happened."

"What?" Lucy screamed as she busted through the door. "What is going on?"

"Desmond is in one of 16's memories. I don't know what memory he is seeing. We haven't worked on targeting a specific time period and…"

"Shaun! Cut with the bull shit! What is wrong?" Lucy interrupted.

"He is stuck in the memory and I can't coax him out."

"What memory?" Lucy's voice was anxious and scared.

"He said he is seeing Vidic trying to sexually assault you. Keeps saying he has to stay and save you. Maybe you should talk to him. If he heard you, he may snap out of it." Shaun suggested.

Lucy nodded and sat next to Desmond taking his hand in hers. "Desmond. It's Lucy. What is wrong?"

Tears were starting to build in the corners of Desmond's closed eyes. "Why isn't he trying to help you?" he asked.

"Who?"

"16. He is just lying there on the Animus. Why isn't he helping you?" he screamed.

Lucy lowered her head as she tried to explain. "He was strapped down to the Animus due to his insane behavior. With all the pressure from his superiors, Vidic got drunk and out of control. Nothing happened though Desmond. He didn't hurt me. I managed to stop him before it got out of hand. I'm right here next to you."

"Please, stop! Leave her alone!" Desmond continued to shout.

"Desmond! Look at me! It's only a memory. Snap out of it, I'm right here!" Lucy pleaded.

Desmond tried to come back to reality by focusing on the sound of Lucy's voice. "But…" he protested.

"It's OK. I promise I am fine."

With a small struggle with his mind, Desmond finally ejected himself from the memory. He sat up, took his hand from Lucy's grasp and buried his face in his sweaty palms.

Lucy and Shaun could hear a muffled "I'm so sorry guys. I fucked up" come from Desmond's mouth.

"No you didn't. Don't think that way. If I were in your shoes, I would have reacted the same way," Shaun sympathized.

With that remark, Desmond looked up at Shaun and exclaimed, "But I'm you guys' only hope! I can't fuck things up like this!"

Lucy ran her fingers through Desmond's now sloppy and messy hair. "Desmond, you're not…fucking things up. Just because this session wasn't successful like the others, it doesn't mean shit. For all we know, 16 could have been influencing you subconsciously… keeping you from reality."

"I feel like I have failed though. I knew you were alright, but seeing Vidic…I lost it."

Shaun wheeled up next to the two on the couch. "You haven't failed. But I tell you one bloody thing. If you give up because of one little slip up, I will be the first one to tell you that you have failed."

After Lucy and Shaun finally cheered Desmond up, they walked into the dining room where Rebecca had lunch already served.

"Diner awaits…" she said to the three coming inside the room. "Hey, why the grim faces?"

Shaun rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it."

Rebecca shrugged and sat down with the group.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"_I have just been informed of several spies who have been conspiring and plotting to kill you." _

"_Who are these conspirators of which you speak?!"_

"_Templars."_

"_Well that is nothing new."_

"_Well, they are also Assassins. There is this circle of men within our own Assassin Order. They have Templar intentions but are masking it with Assassin activity."_

"_How certain are you of this?" _

"_Almost 100 percent."_

"_Traitorous bastards! How then do you suggest we go about exterminating these men?"_

"_Simple assassinations in the dark of the night would suffice."_

"_Assassinating them one by one is rather tedious and time consuming."_

"_True. What about killing them in one large group? That would save time and effort."_

"_Precisely. But how shall we go about with this?"_

"_Hmmm, OK, well let us turn back time's clock for a moment. How have others done this in the past? And do you really believe that this shall work in our advantage? "_

"_If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me."_

"_Stop quoting your damn plays! This is serious."_

"…"

"_I may have the perfect solution."_

"_Go on."_

"_William, how much do you care about your Globe Theater?"_

_William sighed. He knew where Gerard was going with this."No. I will not even consider this. It is my whole world. All for which I have worked so hard lies in the very foundation of that place!"_

"_It will mean little to you once you are dead," Gerard countered._

"_But at least something that represents me as a person, as a playwright genius, shall live on throughout all of eternity." _

_Gerard could tell how much that building meant to his friend. Passion filled the Bard's eyes."William, your theater can always be rebuilt. For your sacrifices, you shall be rewarded not only by Sir Thomas, but by God in Heaven!"_

_William knew Sir Thomas, the leader of the Assassin camp in England, was good for his word and reward. After debating and practically wearing a path in the wooden floor with his pacing, William spoke up. "All I ever wanted was for my theater to bring hope and unity to our country. If by killing these men contributes to these efforts, I want my theater to be the instrument used to end their lives." He chuckled before he continued. "I have always joked that the Globe saved my life. Ironically, it appears that that is exactly what it will be doing."_

_Gerard patted William's back, wrapped his arm around him, and led him out of the office door. "Then it is settled. During one of your plays, there shall be an 'accidental' fire. I shall have some workers build exclusive seats for our Templar guest that will confine them like a cage so they cannot leave when the fire starts."_

_William sighed again. "Alright. Well, let us give them a show they will soon forget!" he giggled sarcastically. _

"_What play did you have in mind?" Gerard questioned._

"_Henry the Eighth."_

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Holy shit!" Desmond shouted. He quickly sat up in bed which startled Lucy.

"What is it?" she asked frightened. She was relieved when she noticed the look on Desmond's face was of shock and not of horror.

He caught his breath and began to explain to her what he had just seen. "I just accessed another memory in my sleep!"

"Oh God. Who was it this time?"

"William Shakespeare."

Lucy's mouth dropped in disbelief. Desmond wasn't sure it could get any wider. "The hell?"

"I know, I don't get it either. The memory was from his point of view. But that is not all…"

Lucy was dying from impatience. "What?" she exclaimed.

"Sorry. I just realized a whole mess of things."

"And that would be…?" Lucy trailed off.

"William Shakespeare, The Bard, the greatest playwright ever, was an Assassin!"

Desmond's earlier thoughts about Lucy's mouth were just proven wrong. Her mouth was open so wide that she could have fit an entire muffin inside with having to smash or fold it. "You're kidding," she chuckled. She was a big fan of Shakespeare, and the idea of him being a fellow Assassin was exciting.

"No. Honest to God. And the Globe Theater wasn't burned down on accident in 1613. Some members of The Order were trying to kill him, possibly because of the 'propaganda' that they believed saturated William's plays. He and this Assassin named Gerard rounded those faux Assassins up in the Globe and had it burned down…"

"Because they wanted to kill them," Lucy interrupted with excitement.

"You seem a little too excited about this," Desmond said.

"I'm sorry. It isn't every day that you find out one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer to ever live was fighting for the same cause you are. And the fact that you are related to him…jealous!"

Desmond was annoyed by her junior high antics. She was practically bouncing on the bed like a trampoline. "Can we calm down for a moment?" Desmond pleaded with Lucy.

"To hell with that. I have to tell Rebecca!"

Before Desmond could grab Lucy, she was already halfway down the hall towards Shaun and Rebecca's room.

"Rebecca!" she shouted. She knocked on the door, heard something that sounded like 'Come in,' then opened the door. "Rebecca, you wo-Oh my God!!" The excitement that was beaming off of Lucy's face turned to horror and embarrassment.

Shaun and Rebecca were in bed. Rebecca had half of her body on top of Shaun's, and both of them were covered in sweat. Rebecca used Shaun and the sheets that they were under to cover both of their nakedness.

"I said don't come in!" Rebecca shouted. She was mortified by the whole situation.

Lucy just busted out in laughter. "Wow, seriously, at 3 o clock in the morning?"

"What is going on in h-Holy fuck!" Desmond shouted as he walking in on the scene.

Rebecca buried her head in Shaun's chest as he laughed at the whole ordeal.

Outside of Lucy and Shaun's giggling, there was silence. That is until Desmond opened his predictable, sarcastic mouth. "Well, at least the most important goods weren't paralyzed."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it. I did my best to 'talk' like Shakespeare, but I am somewhat disappointed at my attempt. Oh well.

Thanks again for the reviews, support, and critiques!!

**Disclaimer: I do not own any quotes taken from Shakespeare's plays. Those are his...obviously. **


	5. Bury Your Dead, And Your Tax Returns

Oh boy! I finally got chapter 5 ready to go! Sorry the last chapter was sort of short, but I was sick and probably shouldn't have posted something I wrote when under the weather (what the hell does that phrase mean anyway?). With the help of some Day and NyQuil, I am getting better and feeling alive!

I want to thank DarkAngelus66 for help and support. I really tried to work on what you suggested, so let me know if I under or over did it!! Thanks again!!

This chapter covers more about Shakespeare and his connection with the Assassins. That is basically all you need to know before reading.

**Oh yeah, I do not own any quotes taken from Shakespeare's plays. If I did, I would be a legend, which I am not. No could I ever be as awesome as he is. **

Without further ado, here is chapter 5!!

* * *

**The next morning…**

All four companions were sitting at the maple dining table drinking coffee and munching on wheat bagels. There was a high level of awkwardness in the room due to last night's situation. Shaun and Rebecca rarely looked at each other while they picked at their plate. Lucy and Desmond stared at the other two as they shoved torn pieces of bagel in their mouths. Shaun glanced up at them and thought they resembled cows chewing on their own cud.

"Desmond, really, could you please close your mouth when you eat?" Shaun complained.

Desmond smiled sarcastically at Shaun and said, "Sure. As soon as you start putting a 'do not disturb' sign on your door when you two are…"

There was a thumping sound underneath the table followed by Desmond jumping in his chair.

"Oww!" Desmond shouted. "The hell was that for, Lucy?"

Lucy stared at Desmond as if she were disgusted, but deep down inside she was laughing her ass off. The only reason she stopped Desmond from making a crude sexual remark was because Rebecca was embarrassed enough as it was. Although it was funny, she didn't want to humiliate her friend any more than she already had.

"Nothing, I was just stomping on what I thought was a roach," Lucy said mockingly.

"That was my foot. And you weren't even looking under the table!" Desmond shouted like a little kid accusing another kid of cheating at Monopoly.

"Shaun," Lucy said ignoring Desmond, "do you have any useful information about The Order?"

"Well that depends. What exactly is it that you want to know?" Shaun inquired.

Confused, Lucy stared at Shaun for a few moments before realizing she never told them about Desmond's 'dreamory', at least that is what Desmond called the memories he saw while he slept.

"I never told you guys, I am sorry. Desmond had a vision last night about William Shakespeare. Apparently, he was an Assassin, or at least an Assassin spy."

"Holy shit!" Rebecca shouted. She jumped out of her chair and placed her hands on the table to support herself from falling over. "Are you sure?" she asked with enthusiasm.

"Here we go again," Desmond moaned as he rolled his eyes. He dropped his head down on the table and rolled his forehead side to side as he pressed it against the tabletop.

"What are you on about?" Shaun had all his attention on Lucy.

"According to Desmond, Shakespeare was somehow connected with the Assassins. There was a mark placed on him by members of The Order, so he and another Assassin killed them." Lucy explained.

Desmond rolled his head to one side so he could look at Rebecca. He thought she was about to hyperventilate. "Do we really have to explain the next part in front of her? She looks like a fish out of water!" Desmond exclaimed as he lifted his head up.

Lucy rolled her eyes and continued, "He invited them to a play at the Globe and intentionally set it on fire with them trapped inside…"

"Where they turned into a bunch of burnt crispy treats…uhm…I mean that it was a treat for our guys that they were burnt to a crisp and not alive and well," Desmond interrupted. He felt stupid by his comment and it showed on his face.

Shaun pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "But the reports said no one was killed in the incident."

"Reports also claim that Michael Jackson's ghost was seen inside his house, on the hood of a car, during a CNN live report, and on someone's try toast," Desmond said dryly.

"Hey, that was his ghost next to Anderson Cooper, OK?" Rebecca protested.

"It looked like Whoopie Goldberg was in the background!" Desmond countered.

"SHUT UP!" Lucy shouted as she stood up. "Can we get back to something more important such as the fucking Order instead of Whoopie Goldberg and her fucking toast?!" Lucy was practically spitting in her fury.

"Sorry," Rebecca and Desmond apologized shamefully.

"Thank you." Lucy took a deep breath as she sat back down in her seat, tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears, and exhaled. "OK, so what could you find out about these 'Orderlies,' as you call them, who died when the Globe burnt down?"

"Thanks to Edward's external hard drive in his briefcase, I have a database of all known members. I can look up the ones that died that year and see if anything important turns up. Any particular persons you are searching for?"

"No, I just figured it might be worth looking into." Lucy glanced over at Desmond as if she was hoping for his approval. He nodded, and she smiled a thank you back at him.

"Alright. I assume we are going to let Desmond take a break from our little sessions for the day. I'll get straight on this and anything else that I think may help." Before anyone could reply to Shaun, he already backed his chair up, spun around, and quickly wheeled off.

"I wonder what he would do if I hooked up a tank of nitrous on his chair…" Desmond thought aloud.

Lucy and Rebecca were appalled and looked at him like he just stole a cookie from a baby.

"What?" he asked innocently. He picked up his dishes as well as the ones Shaun left behind and made his way toward the kitchen. "Any by the way Lucy, the toast belonged to some redneck, not Whoopie. Just thought you should know that."

As usual, before she could protest, Desmond was already out of shouting range.

After Desmond placed the dishes in the sink, he grabbed a bottle of water and headed towards the office. As he passed the dining room, he heard the girl's giggling about what he assumed was Shakespeare's involvement with the Assassins. "Such childish behavior," he whispered as he rolled his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alrighty now. I got this entire room to myself. Time to do some dirty work."

Desmond was sitting at the office desk looking at the computer. "Come on, come on. I can't get started if I don't find anything good enough."

He was on the internet browsing through one of his favorite search engines. The cursor searched the monitor fiercely as it was under Desmond's control. "Damnit, if I don't find one soon enough, they could walk in on me…"

Out of one engine and into another. His fingers flew across the laptop's keys as he tried to narrow down his search. "Oh baby! This one will work fo sho!"

Desmond relaxed in his is seat as he stared intently at the screen. His legs were loosened up and his arms were lifelessly resting in his lap.

_Click._

"Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die," Desmond read off of the monitor. He wasn't sure if this was going to work, but it had to, right?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Stratford, February 1616**

_Gerard walked into William's bedroom to check on him. William had been ill for some time now, but he was doing very well at hiding it. It was Gerard's worst fear that he was poisoned by someone within The Order or by Templars. William was at his desk, quill flowing effortlessly on his parchment, and his back was to the door._

"_How are you doing William?" Gerard asked as he entered his friend's bedroom. _

"_As well as could be expected." Sweat was pouring from his face. He reached for the handkerchief on the corner of his desk, wiped his face, and set it back in its place. _

"_May I ask what it is that you are writing?" Gerard questioned as he tried to sneak up on the writer._

"_Come no further. You will see this in due time." William lifted a finger in his free hand and waved it at Gerard. Gerard could see it trembling fiercely. "But that time is not now."_

_Gerard sighed in defeat. William's wit was too much for him to argue with. Even though William was only an Assassin spy, Gerard respected him as if he were a fellow Assassin. "Fine. Is there anything that I can bring you? Some wine perhaps? Water?"_

_William refused to take his eyes off of his work. "A glass of water would be very nice." _

_Gerard bowed to signal 'your wish is my command' even though William could not see him. He turned on his heel and proceeded down the stairs. The entire house was so quiet that the clanking of his sword and combat knife echoed throughout the entire building. Even William could hear it; he loved that sound. It was like music to him. But then again, so were his plays. _

_After Gerard left the room, he finished what he was writing, put the quill back in the ink jar, and walked to the window where he began rolling up the parchment. _

_When Gerard entered the bedroom, he stopped abruptly when he noticed William standing in front of the window. His back was facing the doorway, his hands behind his back with the rolled parchment firmly in his grasp._

"_The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."_

"_I'm sorry?" Gerard asked. He recognized the words as a quote from one of William's plays, but wasn't sure from which one._

_William turned around to face his friend. "Do not forget that my friend."_

_Gerard shrugged with confusion. "Forget what William?"_

_He walked up to Gerard, gratefully took the glass, and sipped on it. "You never realize how wonderful something as simple as water can be until you are dying." _

"_Do not say such things. The doctors say that you will be well as long as you follow their instructions," Gerard tried to reassure William._

_William snickered and waved away the comment. "Gerard, have I asked you many favors during the many years we have known each other?"_

"_No you have not my friend. If anything, I have been the one asking the favors. Your theater…"_

_William winced and held his hand up for Gerard to stop talking. "This parchment, take it and protect it with your life. When my time has been spent on this earth, I want you to bury this with me." _

_Gerard tried to take the item from William, but William's death grip on the paper prevented him from the act. _

"_Promise me that no other eyes shall gaze upon it. Promise me that you will bury it with me. Promise me that you will never speak of it, this conversation, or what you are to do with it. Ever."_

_Gerard had never before seen his friend act this way. He was not sure how to react to such strange behavior. "I promise. What is it, exactly?" William's grip on the paper was still strong, so Gerard eased up on his grip but still held on to it._

"_I have come across an item that I wish never came to me. It is nothing with which I wish to burden you, so do not ask about what it is. Let us just say that it holds great power that if used wrongly, it could have consequences of which we could never imagine. I believe this is the reason I am so ill. Some Templars were after this remarkable object and once they learned that it was in my possession, they placed a mark on my life as well. I hid the item, and this parchment holds the key to finding it." William inhaled and caught his breath. "But like I said, this conversation never happened. Now," he released his grip from the paper and walked back to his desk, "would you care to play a game of chess?"_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**2012**

Desmond corrected his posture in the chair as he came to. "Whoa."

He quickly got out of his chair and bolted out of the office. "Lucy! Shaun! Rebecca!" he shouted over and over again as he ran around the house looking for someone.

"What?" he heard both girls yell in response. Lucy was in the bedroom and Rebecca was in the bathroom which was directly across from Lucy and Desmond's room. So when they both came running out of the rooms they were in…

Desmond heard the sound of a collision in the hallway followed by screaming.

"God Rebecca! What are you trying to do? Run me over?" Lucy shouted as she tried to stand up, unfortunately, Rebecca was on top of her. "Get your boney ass off of me!"

"My ass is not boney!" Rebecca protested.

While the two struggled to get up, Shaun quickly wheeled inside the room. "What is it?" he asked concerned something was wrong.

"I think I know where one of the Pieces of Eden is!" Desmond shouted excitedly. He was rather proud of himself.

"The hell did you say?" Lucy asked as she finally stood up. She walked into the den where Shaun and Desmond were. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I'm like 95% sure," Desmond said. He was still breathing heavy, so some of his words were not understandable.

"OK, first, how did you figure this out? Second, where is it?" Lucy reasoned with the adrenaline fueled man.

"I accessed one of William's memories. Somehow he got a hold of one of them and hid it. He had Gerard put a piece of paper in his coffin when he died. We have to go over there and get that paper!" Desmond shouted.

"Who is this Gerard?" Shaun questioned, but no one answered.

Lucy let her fiery anger over his sneaking in a session be smothered by the happiness of the possibility of finally knowing the exact location of a Piece of Eden. "Finally, we get a break."

Rebecca came from behind Lucy and went on a rant. "Yeah. We can go to Stratford and at night, dig up his grave. Are you fucking kidding me? You want to exhume the body of the greatest writer ever?! Not to mention security is going to be tighter than an ass trying not to fart!"

"She has a point," Lucy admitted. "I think it would be wise if we planned this out after we visit the grave site. That way we know exactly what we would be facing," she suggested.

"Whatever!" Rebecca exclaimed as she threw her hands up and plopped down on one of the leather couches.

"I agree. It would be idiotic to not look further into this. But I think if we are going to actually start looking for the Pieces, we might consider splitting up. Let's talk about this tomorrow. I still have a lot of research to do and would like to focus on that today. You can do some research on the location and what not if you like."

Even though Lucy figured this to be more important, she didn't want to argue with him. "Alright, but if you don't finish it today, we are still planning this out tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." And with that, Shaun spun around and quickly wheeled back to the 'Research Room.'

"There he goes again," he mumbled to himself. "I think he does that on purpose."

Lucy giggled and rolled her eyes. "Come on, I want to _talk_ to you," she said to Desmond with a wink.

"Oh, OK!" he said excitedly.

As the two ran to their room, Rebecca sat up and said, "Great, now what am I going to do?"

* * *

Sorry this one was a bit long. I was going to add a Lucy/Desmond scene at the end but noticed the word count was like 2600, so, **SPOILER ALERT**, that will start up the next chapter. Hehe.

There was one scene where I was trying to lead you on to think something else was going to happen, so let me know if it worked.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. In your reviews, tell me what you thought about the chapter. Let me know if there is anything I need to work on. I don't want to post stuff that is a chore for you guys to read. Please, if there is anything that is awkward or confusing, tell me.

Thanks again! Now where did I put that new bottle of NyQuil....


	6. Leavin' On A Jet Plane

First of all, I am so sorry this is a tad bit late. I wrote the while still sick and never posted it. Still getting over my head cold, and I just got a new TV for my bedroom as an early birthday gift to myself the other day! I have been playing AC2 on it so I can enjoy the entire game in 1080p. It's amazing...

Anyway, here is chapter 6. Most of it is conversation setting up the good stuff. From chapter 7 onward, nothing but pure action, bloodshed, morbidness, sensuality, and doom await!!!! So I am sorry if this chapter sucks, it is the best I could muster while in the worst part of my sickness. I may decide to redo the whole damn thing, but I'll leave that up to you guys. Let me know what you think after you read!! Also, sorry it is long, but it does read fast!!

Without further ado, here is chapter 6!!

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Lucy and Desmond were now halfway down the hall that connected to the den. They entered their bedroom on right side of the hall and closed the door behind them. For reasons unknown to Desmond, Lucy was rather 'turned on' randomly, but he had no objections to this. But he was still curious. "Why the sudden case of the hornies?" he asked with a smile as Lucy pulled off his shirt.

Lucy giggled as she tossed the now useless article of clothing across the room where it landed by the window which was directly across from the door. She placed her hands on Desmond's head, covering both cheeks, as she pressed her lips against his. "I don't…know…I'm just…really happy," she said in between kisses.

While she was talking, Desmond unbuttoned her shirt and wondered why her wardrobe consisted of mostly button down blouses. She did own a select few of 'ass kicking' tops she wore only when she intended on kicking some ass but other than that, she had no contrast in her wardrobe at all.

"What the hell are you thinking about?" Lucy asked while she pulled her arms out of her sleeves. The shirt simply fell to the floor by her feet.

Desmond quickly shifted his eyes back to Lucy's big blues and replied, "Nothing." A smiled crept on his face as he lifted her up and tossed her on the bed. Consequently, she squealed slightly in pleasant shock. He crawled from her feet upward, gently kissing the soft skin above her belly button. Soon he was kissing her neck as her back arched so her body pressed against his.

Their breathing was now heavy due to their hard, passionate kissing. Almost in unison, their hands traveled downward to undo each other pants. After they both squirmed out of their bottoms, Desmond almost immediately took the invitation inside Lucy.

"Oh God," she moaned.

"No," he smiled at her. "It's just me."

Lucy mentally rolled her eyes at his comment. Desmond could tell she was about to scream, moan, or something, so he planted his lips gently on hers to at least muffle her noise since Rebecca was in the other room. After all, the walls weren't very thick.

They moved in harmony with each other, almost like a macabre form of art. They both knew there was the possibility that this was the last time they could ever truly be together. Even though they were currently the happiest people on earth, it was almost as if they were the most desolate as well. This only intensified their fury of passion as they reached their climax.

Once their breathing calmed and they could actually focus on each other, Desmond pressed his forehead gently on Lucy's. He tucked some of her loose hair behind her ears and left his hand next to her head so he could caress the side of her face. "I love you," he whispered. The serious intent in his deep brown eyes let Lucy know that he was, in fact, completely honest.

"I love you, too," she answered back as she gently stroked his spine.

Her blue eyes were as blue as the Snuggie he once owned a couple of years ago, and the thought of that connection made him giggle.

"What?" she asked sheepishly.

The innocence in her eyes made Desmond melt. The smile that etched across his face made him look like an embarrassed school boy. "Your eyes remind me of a Snuggie," he admitted.

Lucy faked a look of shock and asked, "You mean those robes you put on backwards?" She then let a sarcastic appearance of hurt feelings take over. "Those were so two years ago! And they were tacky!" Actually, she owned one when they first came out. But she would never tell anyone that, not even Desmond. She used to be such an outspoken hater of the fad.

"I thought they were bad ass!" Desmond said in defense.

They giggled as they became lost in each other's gaze until Lucy habitually looked at the clock. "Shit, it is twelve thirty-five. Rebecca is probably getting lunch started."

"Oh boy," Desmond said in disappointment. He didn't want that moment to end, and he wasn't really fond of leaving said moment for Rebecca's cooking. "Alright, I call shower first!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**The next morning…**

After breakfast, Desmond grabbed a hoodie and walked outside to the wooden front porch of the house. Since the house was on a secluded piece of land, the atmosphere was very peaceful. And the cold breeze made it that more enjoyable. He still wasn't sure where exactly they were, but he didn't really care. There were a couple of wooden rocking chairs on the right side of the porch, so Desmond sat in one closest to the door. His whole time outside was spent on trying to make shapes out of the foggy air leaving his mouth as he exhaled.

When he walked back inside the den, Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy were all gathered around the center coffee table. He sat next to Lucy on the couch across from the one on which Rebecca was sitting. "What's up?" he asked.

"Not too much to be completely honest," Shaun said breaking the silence. The girls were anxious to hear what he had discovered about The Order, so naturally disappointment overcame them at those words. "If the men Shakespeare and his partner, Gerard was it, killed in the Globe were, in fact, 'Orderlies,' there is no record of their deaths in the archives. Or the archives are purposely incomplete to cover up the entire ordeal."

"Maybe I should go try to find out," Desmond suggested as he tried to stand up.

Lucy grabbed his forearm and pulled him back down. "Hold on there Jethro. We still have to figure out what we are going to do with the trip to Europe," she countered.

Frustrated, Desmond reluctantly sat back down and let his body sink into the leather sofa. "Alright, so first things first. How are we going to even get over there?" he asked with doubt.

Shaun proudly straightened his back in his wheel chair and stated, "I have taken care of all of that. I phoned a friend over in Stratford who owns a private jet. He can fly over here and back free of charge." Shaun took off his glasses, polished them with a lenses wipe, and pushed them back on his face.

"That's wonderful," Lucy said gratefully. "So, once we get over there, I suggest we do surveillance on the area. That way we can figure out when would be the best time to..uh..dig up the body…" she trailed off. She hated the thought of digging up a body, especially one of such a great man. A grim feeling put her eagerness on the back burner as she hung her head already ashamed of what they were to do.

Everyone else hung their head along with her; Desmond only followed in suit because he didn't want to look like an immoral, heartless ass. "So, we are really going through with this, huh?" Desmond asked interrupting the silence.

Rebecca pulled her head up and looked at Desmond. "You two are," she said as she motioned her fingers at both Lucy and Desmond.

"What do you mean 'you two'?" Lucy inquired. Her eyes were full of fear at the thought of the group being split up.

"Last night, Rebecca and I," Shaun interrupted as he began to polish his glasses again, "talked it over and decided it would be safer if we split up." Lucy motioned her mouth as she was about to protest the idea but Shaun kept her from speaking. "Vidic, Abstergo, and possibly guys hired by The Order are all out searching for us. If we are split up, one group could act as a decoy while the other group is off on the actual mission."

Shaun finally let Lucy get a word in. "No, it would be safer if we are all together. That way we won't lose or leave anyone behind!"

Shaun placed his glasses back on his face satisfied with the clean job and countered, "If we are all together and we are captured, that means all of us are…are incapacitated basically. We should split up that way in the unfortunate chance that one group is discovered and caught, the other is still out there."

Lucy put her elbows on her knees and rubbed her temples in frustration. She wasn't angry at Shaun, she was angry at herself for knowing that he was right.

"What are the chances we would ever see each other again?" Desmond asked. His throat stung when he swallowed as he tried to hold back tears at the thought of never again seeing his two best friends.

Tears were already building in Rebecca's eyes, but she refrained from crying. "We should meet up once we finished the mission but after that, it would be the same gig again, so I don't know…" All she could manage after her sentence was a sincere 'I'm sorry' glance to Desmond and a shrug of her shoulders.

"How would you two be the 'decoy' as you put it?" Lucy finally asked sharply breaking her silence. She was the only one of the four who was not fighting back some form of saddened emotion. Instead, she replaced it with controlled anger and sharp questions.

Shaun explained, "Well, Rebecca and I could go to Italy, specifically Monteriggioni, to make our pursuers suspect we are after something there. Even though they have the map giving the locations of the Pieces, they may think something of importance is there as well. While they are inspecting our activity in Italy, you two can be doing the actual work." Once again, Shaun got out his cloth and began cleaning his glasses. He was obviously trying to preoccupy himself with something to keep himself from getting upset.

Desmond raised an eyebrow to Shaun. "What would they possibly think is in the villa at Monteriggioni?"

"When they ran us out of the warehouse, they found out we had both you and the Animus. Knowing how valuable you were in the past, they may think you found something else. And if Shaun and I go out there 'looking' for it, I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that they would at least keep tabs on our commotion," Rebecca hypothetically explained.

Lucy's head was rested on one hand that rested on one knee; the other hand was now pinching the bridge of her nose, squinting in frustration and shaking her head in denial. "It will take more than Desmond and I to find the location of the Piece."

"Yeah," Desmond piped in, "And let's not forget it's just some paper with the location of the Piece in William's grave. Knowing his cryptic tendencies, it is probably in some code. I suck at riddles and shit, so I doubt I can solve it!"

"But you can!" Shaun countered with encouragement. "You have a gift that will allow you to find the answer without having to solve the damn thing!"

Desmond sighed in defeat. He looked over at Lucy hoping she would say something so he wouldn't have to. When her silence remained, he asked, "What about us? They find a two people over at the villa instead of four. Won't they be suspicious?" The more and more that this debate went on, the more Desmond's doubt crept up his spine. It was like needles poking each vertebra causing them to rupture. He sat up, correcting his posture, and pressed his back against the back of the couch.

"We will be meeting up with some old friends of mine once we arrive in Italy. A brother and sister to be precise. I know it sounds risky and suicidal, but it is the best option we have. Unless you can think of one by tomorrow morning, this is what we are sticking with," Shaun stated.

Lucy removed her hand from her face and lifted her head. "Tomorrow morning?" she questioned with curiosity.

Shaun's face looked grim as he began to speak. "When I said I needed to finish my research yesterday, I lied. I had already finished it and at the news of Desmond's discovery, started organizing a plan. Tickets for our trip to Italy are already purchased for tomorrow morning. My friend Rupert will be there tomorrow morning as well to pick you guys up." Shaun noticed the disappointed and hurt look on Lucy's face and let his eyes stare down at his lifeless feet. He felt lower than the Seventh Circle of Hell. Ashamed, he raised his eyes to look at Lucy as she started to speak to him.

"And you didn't bother telling anyone this because…?" she asked, livid, waiting for an answer.

"He told me," Rebecca shrugged, allowing herself back into the conversation.

Lucy huffed a pissed-off laugh and glared at Rebecca. "Don't even start with me," she hissed. "Just stay out of it!"

That pissed Rebecca off. She stood up, placed one hand on her hip and used the other hand to act out keys word in her rant. "No, I will not stay out of it! Why am I always the one that gets left out of the important shit? I'm always told last minute what the hell is going on and that I am supposed to just deal with that fact. So I don't want to hear you bitchin' because the shoe is now on your foot!"

Lucy jumped back in surprise at the sound of Rebecca's booming voice. She let her blue hides hide behind her eyelids as if they were protective blankets. She didn't want to look at Rebecca for two reasons: when Rebecca is pissed, she goes on full rant mode and disregards anyone's feelings at the time, and Lucy knew that the accusations against her weren't far from the truth.

Shaun wheeled closer to Rebecca and grabbed her forearm. "Rebecca! Calm down! She has a point. We should have told her what is going on, but that doesn't matter now." He turned his attention over to Lucy and Desmond. Desmond felt out of place in the whole argument, so he just kept to himself. "The fact is that Rebecca and I are leaving for Italy tomorrow whether you agree or not. You can either take the plane to Stratford or piss and moan here. That choice is yours."

The emotions that Lucy had kept bottled up inside herself broke through the barrier causing tears to stream down her face. "Why are you putting me in this position?" she pleaded.

Rebecca sat down on the other side next to Lucy and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry. We only did this because we thought it was best."

Lucy went limp in Rebecca's embrace allowing Rebecca to hold her ever tighter. The two girls cried together while Desmond sat there next to them. He wanted to do something to help the situation but felt as useless as a bump on a log.

Amidst the crying, Lucy managed to say, "Alright. We will go to Stratford…as long as it is OK with Desmond…" she trailed off hoping for him to say no, but she expected a yes.

"Yeah, that's fine," he squawked. His throat was now dry from both lack of talking and fighting back tears.

"Then it's settled. I'll go and start packing, Rebecca," Shaun stated as he turned his chair around and started wheeling towards the hall. He felt like an ass for saying it, but simply got over the guilt once he entered the bedroom.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**The next day…**

As Lucy and Desmond made their way out of the terminal, Lucy glanced back at the ramp that led into the plane where Shaun and Rebecca were being boarded. "I hope they really do take care of themselves," Lucy muttered out loud. She hadn't paid much attention to the fact she was now walking behind Desmond.

Desmond slowed to match his pace with Lucy's and wrapped one arm around her urging her to keep moving forward. "They will," he assured her. "Shaun is bad ass with a gun and you've seen how Rebecca gets when she is angry."

Lucy chuckled lightly at Desmond who was trying to cheer her up. She did her best not to think on the partings they gave each other earlier because it only depressed her more. "Let's just get back to this Rupert guy," she suggested.

They had already dropped off their own luggage at Rupert's private airplane, so there was not much of a task getting on board once they arrived at the privet jet terminal.

"Ah, there you are. Are you two ready to leave?" Rupert asked in his dazzling Scottish accent.

Lucy and Desmond both nodded and followed Rupert into the plane. "Why is a Scott living in Stratford?" Desmond whispered to Lucy.

She shrugged her shoulders discretely and smiled. "Dunno."

Once they boarded the plane, the two sat down in the fine, white leather seats while Lucy helped herself to the brandy on the table next to them.

Desmond looked at her both in shock and a teasing look of disappointment to which Lucy replied, "I hate flying…"

After eight glasses of brandy and twenty minutes later, Lucy was dead to the world…

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OK, so as stated before, let me know if I should scrap this chapter or if I should keep it, or if I should just fix it.

Also, I have a poll up for a bonus chapter. I feel bad that I didn't do my best on this chapter so I want to make it up! The bonus chapter will be my best attempts at odd and hilarious moments focusing on one of our four favorite Assassins during their plane trip. So, go check the poll and vote on that. I will close the poll on Wednesday (my bday!!), possibly Thursday (Central time) so vote before then. Chapter should be up by Friday.

Please critique the hell out of this chapter and let me know how I can improve it. I feel like it is just horrendous.

Anyways, thank you for reading and reviewing.

Peace!! 3


	7. Note on Updates, or Lack Thereof

**I am so sorry for the delay in updating this story. Classes and work have been hell this semester, and I have had little time to even think about writing. And this week I have had a moderate to severe illness which still has me under the weather. Even though I have been home for 3 days, I didn't even have the strength to think let alone type. Please hang in there if you believe it is worth waiting for, but I understand if not. I promise I will start back up on the next chapters as soon as I get a chance. My goal is to start back up this month. I do plan on finishing this story and will stick to that goal. Thanks for all of your patience and I promise I will update as soon as I can. If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to rant, I will be more than happy to answer, reply, and just listen. **

**See you in the next chapter....**

**~Whyduyacare**


	8. The Chickens are Coming to Roost

**OK, here is chapter 7. This is the extra chapter that I promised you all a while back. It is very short compared to my normal posts, but it was never intended to be long. There is no drama, action, or suspense. Unless of course, you find it suspensful to see what Desmond might do wake up a drunk and passed out Lucy. Yes, this plot had the most votes. Actually, it was a tie between this and the Shaun one, but my vote went for this one. Anyways, I hope you get a laugh out of this! ENJOY!!!!  
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**Without further ado...**

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_Good Lord Almighty. How many glasses of brandy did she have? _Desmond thought to himself. He glanced at the bottle that was once filled with brandy as it sat awkwardly in Lucy's lap.

"We are forty minutes from the airfield, Mr. Miles," Rupert informed Desmond through the speakers.

Lucy's head, which was angled towards Desmond, was propped on the head rest. Her mouth was agape and loud snores reverberated in her throat. Both of her arms hung limply across both armrests.

"_ wonder if she will wake up with a hangover from hell…_

After a few seconds of staring at the beautiful yet comical spectacle, a plan started forming in Desmond's mind. "I'm gonna try to wake her up," Desmond mumbled to no one. Immediately, Desmond's brown eyes danced as he scouted the room for useful objects.

"Perfect," he whispered in excitement as he eyed a bag of peanuts. He ruffled them loudly in order to test Lucy's awareness. She didn't move an inch, and her snoring was the same.

_I hope she isn't too pissed at me for this, _he pleaded in his mind. Ironically, he wanted to wake her up but was too afraid of her reaction. As he opened the bag and pulled out a few peanuts, he positioned himself so his whole body was facing the lump of flesh that was Lucy.

Air filled his lungs as he inhaled, then left as he exhaled deeply. "Here we go." With one peanut between his right thumb and index finger, he flicked his wrist gently so the peanut glided through the air…towards Lucy's mouth. It hit one of the teeth on her upper jaw which caused her head to jerk slightly and a snort escaped her mouth and nose.

Desmond froze as he anticipated Lucy to wake up, but the scene quickly changed back to how it was before. Lucy was lifeless in the airplane seat, and Desmond was preparing to toss another peanut. This peanut landed in the dip between the bridge of her nose and her eye socket.

"Shit," Desmond grumbled as Lucy twitched but never woke. He tossed a few more peanuts, but he quickly gave up. So, the peanuts were obviously not working which meant Desmond needed a new plan. He laughed menacingly as he spotted his new object of aggravation. "She always freaks a bit when her cell alarm goes off, let's see what she does now…" Desmond opened the cell phone, set the annoying bird thing as her ring tone, and then placed the phone by her ear. After grabbing the on-board-telephone, he dialed the number and…

_CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP_

Lucy snorted. "Mammy, don't kill that chicken," she mumbled in her sleep, but she went quiet (except for her snores) once again.

"Fuck! What does it take to wake her up? And who is Mammy?" he asked loudly. That didn't wake Lucy either.

While he tried to think of something else, he messed up Lucy's hair, pulling strands lose here and there. He gently smudged her eyeliner and lipstick, and then slightly rolled up one of her pan legs. Once he was finished, she looked absolutely ridiculous. Or like a drunken mess.

He let his mind wander again and found a full bottle of water in his seat cup holder and didn't have to think about what he was going to do with it. Carefully, he unscrewed the cap and deeply inhaled and exhaled. As he held the bottle over Lucy's torso (she was wearing a white button down blouse, like usual), he ever so slightly twisted his wrist causing the contents to gently pour onto her vulnerable chest.

It was as if he did nothing at all. She didn't even react to the cooler temperature from the water. But with that much brandy in her system, she was probably warm all over. Out of ideas, Desmond lowered his head next to Lucy's ear, imitated a chicken squawking in pain, and screamed, "No Mammy! Not the chicken!!"

"Mammy, no!" Lucy screamed as she shot up in her seat. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

Desmond sat up straight in his seat defensively with a guilty grin on his face. "Your top is what is currently going on." He then winked at her as he stared at her chest through her now 'see through' shirt.

Lucy glared at Desmond and then followed his eyes to her chest. "The hell? Why is my shirt wet? And why am I covered in peanuts?"

"Uhm, I was trying to wake you up." He lowered his head as if he were ashamed and let his voice trail off as he spoke. After a few seconds of looking at the ground, he cut his deep brown eyes upward to look at Lucy with an apologetic smile. He knew how to get out of trouble with her all too well.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Give me your hoodie."

"What? Why?" Desmond inquired as he protectively wrapped his arms around his chest. "_My_ hoodie!"

"Yeah, and you are the one who made me look like I came out of a wet t-shirt contest at a bar. Now hand it over."

"Fine," he grumbled. As he surrendered his hoodie, he smiled at her victoriously. She shifted her eyes in confusion at his expression but said nothing. Little did she know that Desmond snapped a picture of her with his phone right before she woke up. Oh how Shaun would love to see this.

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**~ whyduyacare**


	9. The Long Road to Somewhere

**Hey guys! I am finally posting another chapter to this story. I feel terrible I left you guys hanging where I did. I also want to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you that have been patiently waiting. God knows I don't deserve that kind of patience since I never give any, lol. And I am also behind on reading all my favorite stories which sucks. Some stories, I am like nine chapters behind. **

**Anyways, enough about my petty problems. I hope this chapter is as good as my others. It feels foreign picking up this story after leaving it sitting for so long. Things are going to start changing up a lot as I am now taking this in a new direction. Same ending, just different roads. There are/will be new characters that will become almost as crucial to the plot as Lucy and Desmond, so prepare for that. Since I am taking this in a new direction, hang in there while I set up the new ideas. Death, gore, and all out decapitation await in the chapters to come!!!**

**Oh, I don't own Assassin's Creed, except for the characters I created in here.  
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**Without further ado...**

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**A private airfield in Stratford**

Desmond and Lucy walked out of the plane's exit, down the stairs that descended to the pavement of the runway, then towards the man that unloaded their luggage.

"Why aren't you hungover?" Desmond asked in surprise.

"Took some stuff before we got on the plane. Works like a charm every time." She paused for a moment, then went into a small rant. "I still can't believe you did that to me!" Lucy hissed quietly to Desmond. "I look like I was drunk and had wild sex trip on the plane!"

"Well, whoever thinks that would only be half right," Desmond suggested with a smirk across his face.

Lucy raised her hand up to slap Desmond and shouted, "You little fu--"

"Hey you two! Over here!" an overly excited girl exclaimed to the bickering couple, interrupting Lucy. She was standing next to a black four door BMW with a grin so wide that he white teeth were beaming across the entire runway. She had short black hair which hung about an inch above her shoulders, and she was approximately Lucy's height. Even though they were a good 20 yards from the girl, Lucy and Desmond both took notice of her beauty.

Lucy glanced up at Desmond in time to see him staring at the girl, mouth open like a buffoon, and was instantly jealous. "Uh, OK," Lucy managed to say as she waved her hand in a friendly manner. "We just need to get our--"

"Don't worry about that! Gerald will bring your luggage to the car!" she insisted as she pointed to the man holding Lucy and Desmond's bags. He must be Gerald.

Lucy nodded, but Desmond was frozen in his place, possibly from the girl's radiant beauty. Lucy rolled her eyes and drug Desmond to the car by his elbow.

"Hi. My name is Alice." Alice's voice was high pitched, but it wasn't a pain to listen to; it was actually soothing. "Lucy Stillman, correct?" Either Alice hadn't notice Lucy's appearance, or she just ignored it.

Lucy nodded but refused to answer.

"Then this must be Desmond Miles." Desmond nodded in recognition but failed to close his mouth. Alice didn't seem to notice his awkward facial expression either. "We have been waiting for you guys for a while. Did you have a nice flight?"

"_We?"_ Lucy asked in confusion, and she completely ignored the honest inquiry from Alice. "What do you mean _we_?"

Alice smiled sweetly and walked to the driver's side of the car. She opened the driver's door, paused, and over the hood of the car she said, "Shaun phoned me this morning so I would know to pick you up."

Lucy raised her head slightly as she said "Ahh," but she was pissed that Alice didn't answer her question. What kind of twit just smiles and casually ignores a question she was asked?

"Please, get in the car. The backseat is very spacious, but Rupert would like to ride shotgun if that is OK with you." Alice noticed the hint of confusion and curiosity in her new friends expressions, so she explained, "He gets car sick in the back."

Desmond, now out of his trance, placed his hand on the small of Lucy's back and urged her towards the back seat. Once he took note that George, Gerard, or whoever, had placed their luggage in the trunk of the car, he joined Lucy.

Alice still stood outside waiting for Rupert, but climbed in as soon as he made his way over to them. "Rupert isn't aware of who we are, so keep your mouths shut until we drop him off at his loft. If you must, you can make small talk."

The backseat riders nodded in acknowledgment, then stiffened in response to Rupert's angry mood when he entered the car. Alice asked, "Are you OK? You look…"

"Pissed off!" he interrupted. Lucy and Desmond both jumped subtly in their seats at his reply, but Alice seemed unaffected by his harshness. "That fucking fuel man charged me 1,000 pounds to refuel my plane!"

"Shit!" Alice exclaimed as she started the engine. "That's insane. Did you pay it?"

"Fuck no! I told him to sod off and that I would box his ears if he charged me over 700." He took a swig of whiskey from his flask and continued as Alice drove the car to the airport exit. "After a little more persuasion, he agreed to my price."

Alice let out an evil chuckle and said, "Damn Norwegians. Always trying to steal your money. The bitches." Rupert joined Alice in her laughing.

Desmond and Lucy's eyes were both wide open, and they quickly glanced at each other. Lucy gave Desmond a look that said "What the hell?", but Desmond just shrugged. However, there were three things of which Desmond was sure: Rupert was now drunk, Alice was driving rather slowly, and the fuel man was Norwegian.

The two of them didn't join in on Rupert and Alice's conversation while they were on the road unless he directly asked them a question or to say "no thank you" when Alice offered the bottle of water she had been sipping on. For the most part, they tuned Rupert out, but once his questions turned inappropriate…

"So," Rupert boomed as he turned to face Lucy and Desmond, "how long have you two been fucking each other?" Even though his words slurred over each other, the only clear words Rupert could say were profanities. Especially the "f bomb."

Lucy and Desmond froze in their seats not knowing how to answer the question. Alice, in mid sip, spat out the water that was inside her mouth all over her bottle and steering wheel. Lucy inhaled through her nose, stiffened her shoulders, and calmly replied, "That is none of your business."

Rupert smiled and said, "Ahh, but you don't deny it!"

Alice grabbed a tissue and vigorously started to wipe the steering wheel clean of her mess as if she were trying to wipe away the conversation.

Desmond just sat there in shock. If this were someone else's sex life being questioned, he would have made all kind of crude remarks. But he wasn't used to his relationship with Lucy openly talked about like this. Once again, he found himself frozen in his place.

Lucy glanced at the rear-view mirror and could tell that Alice was squinting as if to brace herself for what was to come. Lucy's eyes darted back to Rupert, more intense this time, and she said in a mock cheerleader voice, "No, I don't. And it is rather spectacular if I do say so myself. Shall I desribe it to you, or can you get off on the idea alone? I'm sure it's nothing you have experienced," she paused as she asserted his drunken condition, "or _ever will _experience for that matter."

Alice's eyes were practically bugging out of her head, but she kept them locked on the road. Rupert must have realized the error he made in his conversation because he apologized to Lucy and then to Desmond.

"Uh hmm," Alice cleared her throat and broke the silence that filled the entire car. "Rupert, we are at your place. You need some assistance climbing the stairs?" She pulled the car over by the main entrance to his loft entrance in downtown Stratford.

"No thanks, even though you sure would put the 'ass' in assistance," he replied. He intended it to be a compliment, but the hand that slapped his face in response told him it wasn't taken as one. "Sorry about that, Alice. It's the--" he paused as he help up his empty flask and then opened the door. As he got out, he thanked Alice for the ride.

"No problem, Rupert. Never a dull moment with you." A wide, friendly grin escaped Alice's best attempts to keep it at bay. Once Rupert closed the door, she put the car in drive and floored it.

Then sudden change in driving styles startled Lucy. "Uhm, you alright, Alice? You are driving kinda fast there." Lucy's voice broke at the last word; she had never been more terrified of someone's driving before. Alice had to have been going 80 or 85…and they were still downtown!

"I always drive this fast. Some people are trigger happy, I'm pedal happy!" she exclaimed as if she were answering a question on a date show. "No need to worry. I'm the wheel man of our little unit and if we were to crash, this thing was remade in tank armor…I think."

"Oh, that's very reassuring!" Lucy sarcastically replied as she pressed her body further into her seat. She looked at Desmond, who was still frozen in his seat from the awkward moment earlier. "You alright, Dez? Dez?" He didn't respond, which panicked Lucy, and she noticed that his eyes were glazed over. "Alice! Stop the car!"

Without hesitation or question, Alice gently stopped the car and spun around in her seat to see what was wrong with Desmond. "Holy shit! Is he OK? What's wrong?"

"Shhh!" Lucy commanded; Alice silenced herself. "He is accessing a memory of one of his ancestors. Just give him a moment," she whispered.

"I thought he needed the Animus for that," Alice whispered back.

Lucy sighed. "He did, but for the past few days, he has been able to do everything the Animus allowed him to do without actually needing to be in the Animus."

"Oh," Alice mouthed. She sat patiently as she waited for Desmond's vision to end.

After three minutes, Desmond finally came back to reality with no trouble at all. He couldn't believe how easy that was; the only thing that bothered him was the fact that he didn't trigger the memory. It just sort of happened. He couldn't tell Lucy that though.

"You alright?" Lucy asked. Her deep blue eyes were full of concern. Even though he was able to handle everything, she was still nervous Desmond might end up like 16, or become 16. She shuddered at that thought and pushed it to the back of her mind.

"Yeah, just playing around with my new found power. Had some unfinished business with 'The Bard'."

Alice hopped up in her seat. "Oh my God, you are related to Shakespeare?"

Her eagerness reminded Desmond of Lucy and Rebecca when they found out. "Yeah. Very loosely though. The memories are not as strong as with others."

Lucy ignored the amazed Alice and chided Desmond. "I wish you would have told me you were doing that. At first, I thought it came up on you without any warning."

Desmond swallowed the guilt that came with that statement and felt it stab at his spine on the way down. "Sorry. Won't happen again." He wondered how he could actually keep that promise.

Lucy stroked his arm that was next to her and said, "It's OK. But everytime you go memory surfing without the aide of the Animus, I get unnerved and panicky."

After Lucy kissed Desmond on the forehead and then the nose, Alice turned around before she saw Lucy get any lower. "So, uh, I hate ruin 'kiss me baby one more time' moment, but we need to get going if we want to get to your…," Alice squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she said a mental 'fuck'. "To where we are going," she continued. She almost let it slip.

_Your?_ Once again, Lucy was puzzled by Alice's words, but she let it slip this time. "Yeah. That's fine. But do you mind easing off of the gas a bit? I think I am starting to understand why Rupert wanted to ride in the front seat. He doesn't get car sick, he gets 'Alice's driving' sick," Lucy teased.

A dissappointed sigh escaped Alice's lungs, but she couldn't hold back a small grin. "Alright." She was starting to like Lucy and Desmond.

**75 mph and an hour later…**

"We are here!" Alice shouted to her passengers. She giggled as Lucy 'thawed out' from being frozen of shock. Desmond was grinning from ear to ear.

"You said you were going to drive slower," Lucy acused. "You almost ran over seven people. One lady was walking her poodle!"

Alice frowned as she recalled the incidences, and then, being sure of her self, corrected Lucy, "No, they almost hit me. I just swerved out of the way." She avoided the question about her speed.

"Did you see that lady's face?" Desmond asked excitedly.

"No, it was kind of hard to see anything. _Everything_ was a blur because someone was driving too damn fast!" Lucy answered with what sounded like anger mixed with sarcasm. Desmond noticed Lucy was starting to sound like Shaun.

Alice raised her hands up, palms out, in order to defend herself. "Hey, you said drive slower, and I did." She pursed her lips for a moment and continued, "Apporxamately 5 miles per hour slower than before. You should specify an exact speed next time!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and quickly got out of the car. She wasn't spending one more minute in that car with Alice behind the wheel. "Where are we?"

"Casa de la Assassion," Alice sang with her best Spanish accent. "It's a mansion the Assassins 'inherited' a while back. It's now a fully functional base…sanctuary…stronghold thing. To be precise, we are on the outskirts of Stratford."

"Looks more homey than that warehouse we were in, eh, Lucy?" Desmond asked.

"Sure does," she agreed as she eyed the beautiful house, if you could even call it that. "So," she began asking with her eyes still on the mansion, "who is else is with you here? You said '_we _have been waiting for you' earlier."

As if on cue, a gorgeous man, who was about the same age as the three outside, walked through the front door of the mansion. "I think she was referring to me," the man said sheepishly. Alice's green eyes beamed with excitement and a large smile etched her face. Demsond couldn't place his finger on it, but the man looked a lot like Lucy. Same blue eyes, same smile. _Hmmmm,_ Desmond thought to himself.

The man's eyes were glued to Lucy's as he made his way to the car so he could join Alice, who was staring compassionatly at him. Their hands intertwined, but his eyes never left Lucy's curious gaze. "Hey, Lucy Loo," the man said as his brows shifted upward in an apologetic manner.

Lucy's face looked petrified. Subconsciously, Desmond placed his hand on the small of her back to comfort her. Suddenly, Lucy's expression changed. She was still petrified, but she now possesed a look of disbelief. "No," she whispered. "It can't be. You…you are supposed to be dead!"

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**YAY! More cliffhangers! Tell me what you think so far. I know it's early, but do I need to develop Alice a little more as a character? Her personality, and hair, is a mirror image of me, just not her eye color. I'm blue, da ba dee!! Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions. Once again, I am so sorry for the wait, but thank you all for waiting! I'm currently writing chapter 9, so it will be here shortly!!**

**~whyduyacare  
**


	10. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

**YAY! I finished the next chapter! Don't know when I will get the next one posted, though. Anyways, I also want to thank all of you for the get well wishes. After a good four weeks, I am finally over whatever it was I had. **

**Oh, the chapter where Desmond is trying to wake Lucy, Mammy was just her grandma. I was going to explain it in the story, but it didn't seem to flow with the chapter. Mammy also lived on a farm and raised chickens to collect their eggs. If they didn't produce any eggs...well, if you have seen Chicken Run, you know what happens. **

**This chapter is more conversation, but a lot of history and unsolved secrets about William Shakespeare are coming to light. **

**Without further ado...**

**

* * *

  
**

_This can't be him. No, it's not. He died years ago. I went to his funeral and everything. But he looks so much like him…he looks so much like me!_

Lucy's mind went wild as she tried to wrap her mind around what was happening. "Lucas?" Her voice cracked as she spoke that name. She hadn't spoken that name since the funeral.

"Who else would call you Lucy Loo?" Lucas asked. Lucy hadn't been called that since she was in college when she last saw Lucas. She remembered because she always called him _George _Lucas.

Desmond felt left out because Lucy and Lucas obviously knew each other and apparently, Alice was informed of their relationship. He impatiently glanced at Alice, who now had her other hand covering the inner part of Lucas's elbow. She removed her hand and stuck it out, palm outward, motioning for him to be patient.

"But you were shot…stabbed…killed…how are you…can you just explain?" she pleaded.

Lucas sighed but agreed to her simple request. "Let's go inside first, please. It is hot out here and you are wearing a hoodie. You must be uncomfortable."

All four nodded in unison and walked into the foyer of the mansion. There were three doors to take: one on the right, left, and straight ahead. They took the door on the right which led to a study. Lucas insisted Desmond and Lucy sit on the leather couch closest to the door while he and Alice took the one that was at a 90 degree angle from the other.

"So, where should I began," Lucas huffed as he sat down next to Alice.

Desmond couldn't help but notice how clean Lucas looked as he watched him sit down. Those sapphire eyes only emphasized the fact that this man was attractive. His brown hair was cut very short with it spiked up in a row at the center of his head. He had a nicely trimmed goatee that was connected to his sideburns by a thumb-sized line of facial hair that outlined the edge of his lower jaw. Desmond glanced at Lucas's black buttoned down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, faded dark jeans, and casual black Dr. Martins. Then he glanced at his worn out grey t-shirt, torn up jeans, and plain white shoes. He couldn't help but feel like a bum compared to this guy.

Lucy, still in shock and disbelief, asked, "How about when you were 'killed'?" Desmond eased Lucy onto the couch and sat next to her. He was still confused as to who this nicely dressed Lucas was.

"Right. Everything that you were told happened to me actually happened, but I didn't die. The Templar assassin failed to make sure I was dead before he left my bloody body in that alley."

Alice winced at that image.

"I managed to get to the sidewalk, and some lady called a bus. Once the paramedics arrived, they ended up calling Liam. I went to the hospital, was stablized, and then they took me to the base in Houston. That's were I met Alice." He glanced at her for a second, smiled proudly, and then turned back to Lucy. Lucas and Alice were still holding hands even after they came inside. "The head guy in New York ordered that we play along as if I were dead. The Templars obviously wanted me that way and thought that I was out of the game, so there was no reason to enlighten them of me being _undead_. Once I recovered, it was new hair, new look, new name, and new home. I've been living here in Europe ever since."

Lucy was starting to understand the situation, but questioned him. "Why didn't you tell me? Do you know what it is like thinking that both of your brothers are dead?" A subtle fury shot from Lucy's eyes to Lucas, and he reacted appropriately. Apologetic pain took over his face as he closed his eyes tightly and forced his eyebrows closer together.

_So Lucas is Lucy's brother,_ Desmond thought to himself. That would explain their similarities.

"Is Liam alive?" Lucy asked full of hope. The fury, however, was still there on her face.

"No. They didn't fake his death. It killed me that I couldn't be there with you at his funeral." Lucas winced at the poor choice of words: _killed._

_Liam must be the other brother, _Desmond assumed.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy. I had to start all over; they made me lose all ties to my former life, including you. But now that Robert, the one who gave me this position here in England, is dead…and what were the chances your mission would bring you right to me? I couldn't turn down Shaun's offer to…"

"Wait, Shaun knew?" Lucy demanded, interupting Lucas.

Lucas looked as if he said something that he shouldn't have. "Yes," he admitted. "He has known for a while. I called him once a while back asking how you were. It's not his fault; I told him not to tell you."

Lucy placed her elbows on her knees and rested her face in her hands. Her breathing went uneven as she tried to understand how Shaun could lie to her like that.

"Alice, why don't you show Desmond around?" Lucas suggested to Alice. She nodded, kissed him tenderly on the lips, and then nodded her head at Desmond for him to follow her. After following almost the same goodbye with Lucy that Alice gave Lucas, Desmond stood up and followed Alice out of the room. As he shut the door to give Lucy and Lucas some privacy, he saw Lucas sit next to his sister and wrap his arms around her. Muffled sobs could be heard coming from Lucy while Lucas let a few silent tears trail down his face.

"You want a tour of the place, or do you want to raid the kitchen?" Alice offered. She was obviously trying to get Desmond from eaves dropping on the Lucy and Lucas by distracting him.

Desmond thought about it and replied, "Acutally, I could use something to eat."

Alice flashed a smile that said 'great!' and led him through the door across from the front door of the mansion. Staircases spiraled around both sides of the huge room, but Alice walked towards the door in between them. "This way," she directed. Their feet echoed inside the colossal entry room as they walked on the faded marble floor.

Desmond thought he recognized this entry way, these staircases, from somewhere, but it felt as if a word was on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't say, no matter how hard he tried. He simply rolled his eyes and followed Alice into the kitchen.

A whistle of approval of the kitchen from Desmond followed the loud grumble from his stomach. "So, whatcha got in this place to eat?" He had never seen a kitchen this large before except for those cooking shows. But this had to be at least twice the size of anything in which Emeril has ever cooked.

"Ha! How about what don't we have to eat? Ask, and I bet we have it."

"Captain Crunch?" Desmond asked hopefully.

"You're kidding right?" she asked in disbelief that someone would ask an idiotic question like that. "That's one of the 'musts' on our grocery list! Of course we have it!" Alice grabbed two bowls, two spoons, some milk, and a huge red box with that lovable pirate on it. "So, did you get any of that in there?" she asked seriously as she pointed towards the direction of the study.

After slurping a spoon full of sweety goodness, Desmond replied, "I think. They are brotherand sister, and Liam was their brother. Lucas and Liam are Assassins, and both had a hit on their lives by the Templars. Lucas survived, and now he is here with you and some other Assassins." These were all statements, but they ended up sounding like questions to Alice.

"Yes, yes, and yes," Alice answered. "Actually, Lucas is Lucy's twin brother. Liam was the oldest. While Lucas was finisheing his recovery, Liam was killed."

"Oh, that really explains why they look a lot alike. I mean eyes _that_ blue are rare," Desmond asserted and lost his train of thought as he thought about Lucy's eyes. Her Snuggie eyes. He smiled at that thought…

Alice deeply inhaled and exhaled and said, "Yep." She was obviously thinking the same thing about Lucas.

**That night…**

Lucas and Lucy spent most of the day talking in the study while Alice and Desmond kept themselves occupied by playing pool with two Assassins named Michael and King in the game room upstairs. The two siblings talked mostly about Lucas not being dead, what they had been doing for the past few years, and how they needed to act normal around each other for their mission's sake. To be honest, it wasn't that hard for them; they were ecstatic to finally see each other again.

Later, Lucy, Lucas, Desmond, and Alice all sat at the dining room table, which was a heavy, polished maple table, together over some Chinese takeout someone else in the house had ordered. While they were eating, they discussed certain plans of action and the fact that Lucas's new name was Evan Weber. He instructed Lucy and Desmond to start calling him by that name so his real name wouldn't slip in public or worse, in front of a Templar.

"So, what exactly are you two doing on this side of the globe anyway? Shaun was afraid to go into detail over the phone," Lucas, or Evan, explained. "The Templars have their roots deeply planted in the CIA and FBI, so they are constantly wire tapping the phone lines."

Lucy looked at Desmond to encourage him to explain.

"Oh, uh, there is a 'you know what' buried in Shakespeare's grave. Well, there is a piece of paper giving the location of a 'you know what' buried with him. We are after that paper."

"But Lucy explained that you have a map of all the locations? Why this one in particular?" Alice questioned.

Lucy sat up in her chair and pushed the sleeves of Desmond's hoodie up her arms before she opened her box of lo mein. "According to that map, the closest Piece of Eden to Stratford is south of London. If this 'note' in fact gives the location of another Piece here in Stratford, that means there are possibly more Pieces than we thought!" In went a fork full of noodles and cabbage into Lucy's mouth after she spoke. The four started off using chop sticks, but after 5 minutes of figuring out they were too anxious to use them, they all said "fuck it" in unison and switched to forks.

Desmond thought about Lucy's last statement for a moment and realized the odds couldn't be any more against them right now. After he swallowed a bite of his dinner, he asked, "So, Luc--I mean Evan, what would be the best way to unearth the Bard? It kinda blows that it's a tourist site."

Evan took a swig of his glass of water and retorted with a grin, "That isn't his actual burial site."

The other three at the table all stared at Evan like he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. "What?" they asked in unison. None of them were blinking as their eyes were fixated on Evan.

Evan smiled again as he chomped down on one of those small corn on the cob things and replied, "Another Assassin cover up. I'm sure you are aware that Shakespeare was assassinated. Do you really think that the Assassins would let the world, which the Templars happen to be a part of, know where one of the greatest Assassin spies was buried? It's not just some phrase that are secrets die and are buried with us…."

Alice blinked her eyes slowly as she moistened them from being dry. "OK…so then where is he buried?"Doubt filled her face as she questioned the blue eyed hunk.

He paused as he waited for Lucy and Desmond to blink before answering Alice's question. "Somewhere within a few miles from here. Why do you think we are here in this mansion?" Evan finally asked as he spread his arms wide to emphasize his question. "I'm sorry I never told you this Alice, but this is the house that the Assassin's purchased for Shakespeare to live in while he had a hit on his life. It's perfectly secluded from the city, and there are secret passages that you would drive you insane if you got lost in them."

"Little good it did him," Desmond snorted. If Shakespeare was assassinated under the protection of the Assassin Order, that didn't make _their_ odds look any better. At least he finally found out why the place looked so familiar. He had been here a few times in a few of Shakespeare's memories.

Evan rolled his eyes and explained, "He was poisoned before he moved in for the fourth time. Whatever it was that the Templars gave him, it was months before he started showing symptoms of his illness."

"So, does that mean it will be easy to access his grave, his coffin?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"Sure does. If I would have known this was why you came here, I would have already unearthed the guy before you got here and presented him as a 'welcoming gift' to you when you arrived this morning," Evan said honestly even though there was humor in his voice. Alice shifted her eyes as she tried to ignore the morbid context there.

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled so big her cheeks were warm from the tension and strain her facial muscles were exerting. "Great, we should start tomorrow."

"Agreed," Evan said.

"I think I can enjoy my fortune cookie now!" Lucy exclaimed as she reached for the small plastic bag. She opened the bag, cracked the cookie and read the small rectangular paper that once resided in the delicious wafer. The group watched her as her face illuminated with a deep, blood red color. She threw the paper down, forced her heavy wooden chair backwards across the marble floor, and stormed out of the dining room.

The remaining three eyed Lucy in confusion as she left then eyed the small paper that pissed Lucy off. Desmond grabbed it and read it aloud: "Meet your opponent half way. You need the exercise." He chuckled with the others as they all anxiously opened their cookies.

"Flattery will go far tonight," Evan read. He eyed Alice through is peripheral vision and smiled.

"Don't even think about it. I have already been flirted with today by a drunk Rupert and am in no mood for whatever it is you have to say," Alice ranted. She noticed Evan looked a little hurt by her statement and added as she winked at him, "We can just skip the flattery."

Desmond rolled his eyes as he opened his cookie. "Take a minute to let it ride, then take a minute to let it breeze." Desmond glared at his fortune with hatred. "I don't understand. What the hell do you mean?" he demanded of the paper.

Alice giggled either from Desmond's response or the game of footsy she was playing with Evan. "You're fortune lies in another cookie," she said with a wide grin. After two seconds, she realized what she had just said. "What the fuck?" she whispered angrily in her delayed reaction.

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**So, there is chapter 9! Let me know what you thought about it**. **Are there things I need to work on, are there any factual errors, are the characters going OOC on me? Please let me know. It has been a while since I have worked on this story or played the game, so I hope it hasn't affected me negatively. **

**Oh, and sorry for the name change for Lucas. But we don't want him getting killed because a random Templar overheard his actual name now do we?**

**Thanks for reading/reviewing! **

**~whyduyacare  
**


	11. Interred With Their Bones

Well I finally got another chapter done. I am sorry that this one took a while to get posted, but chemistry class is a bitch. I'll leave it at that. No, I'll say one more thing. Anyone who has just started college or is about to start next year, take this advice. Unless you absolutely need to take a Chemistry class for your major, don't take one. I made the mistake of taking Chemistry because I thought it would be fun. Out of any of the science classes I could have chosen, I pick chemistry. *bangs head on wall* That so called fun is still yet to be had......

Anyway, if this chapter seems a bit off compared to my previous work, I apologize. I wasn't too wild about doing this chapter because it is just set up for the next chapter.

**Spoiler Alert: People die in the next chapter!!!!XD**

I don't own Assassin's Creed or the phrase used to title this chapter. Ubisoft and Mr. Shakespeare own them.

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Desmond and Lucy crept along the tree line of an old cemetery. For obvious reasons, it was decided they would be doing this mission at night. Just like Evan said, the cemetery was located only 7 miles South of the mansion. There was a small group of Assassins with them: Michael, King, and Nicolai. The five of them were all following Alice's lead.

"Why is she doing that?" Desmond whispered to Lucy. He nodded his head in Alice's direction even though Lucy was already staring at the girl (who was dressed in tight black jeans, a black turtle neck, and a matching beanie) in disbelief.

Lucy tried to form phrases, single words even, with her tongue, but all that came out of her mouth was an exhale that oddly sounded like 'I don't know.'

Alice was hopping, crawling, and occasionally skipping from the cover of tree to tree. When there were no more trees in her path, she barrel rolled and somersaulted from tombstone to tombstone. It would be assumed all of her activities would have defeated the purpose of sneaking trough the gravesite, but she was actually quieter than the rest of the group. Finally, she stopped her silly antics and stood next to a marked tombstone.

"Here," Alice whispered as she pointed to a spot in the ground. She looked at the five Assassins who were all wildly staring at her. Even the other three members of the group were confused by her overzealousness. "What?" she asked innocently.

"N-nothing," Desmond stuttered. "You sure that this is the one?" he asked as he pointed to the same spot at which she was pointing.

Alice nodded in reply and said, "Sebastian Finn." Alice received nothing in return except the same wild stares. King shifted his eyes around the cemetery as he waited for her to explain herself. She rolled her eyes at her friends and explained, "The tombstone marked 'Sebastian Finn' is where William is buried." She placed her hands on her hips and fluttered her eyes with impatience.

"Alright then," King said breaking the silence, "let's get started!" Everyone but Lucy and Alice grabbed a shovel and started digging up the grave.

Michael was the first one to thrust his shovel into the dry dirt, but he complained, "This seems so wrong, diggin' up Shakespeare's body and all. If it were some random bloke, that would be another story. But one of the greatest writer's of all time?!" His voice started in a whisper, but he was now on the verge of shouting.

"Shh!" Lucy ordered. "Are you trying to make it obvious that we are here?" she hissed to Michael.

"Aw, come on Luce," Desmond sighed as he stopped digging for a moment. "We are in the middle of nowhere. And besides, it's pretty dead out here."

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, scrunched her eyebrows close together, and glared at Desmond. She was obviously not amused by his childish puns.

Alice, on the other hand, snorted a laugh as a small grin escaped on her face. Her face quickly became serious once she glanced at Lucy, who was now glaring at her, and said, "Sorry."

Lucy huffed in disbelief but said nothing in reply.

The eerie silence that followed the unintended confrontation sent a chill up King's spine. He promptly started humming 'Don't Fear the Reaper' by Blue Oyster Cult. Eventually, everyone joined him.

"Stop!" Nikolai unexpectedly demanded. "I think I hit something!" Desmond was shocked that he spoke in a perfect American accent. He had never heard Nikolai speak before, but he assumed he was Russian.

Alice and Lucy both stood up from the tombstones upon which they were both leaning at the same time. They quickly inched closer to the guys but were too anxious to say anything.

"Alright. Be care when you dig. We don't want to break through his coffin and desecrate his body," King cautioned.

"We have already desecrated his grave!" Michael retorted. "What should we care if we crush his skull or something? Might as well rob whatever is valuable in there since we are already stealing from his grave!" He threw his shovel down and braced himself to rant some more, but Nikolai tackled him before he had time to say one more thing.

"Mike, shut the fuck up!" Nikolai demanded of Michael. "Someone may hear us out here and call the police or something!"

After a few short minutes of pausing to make sure they were still alone, the men picked up their shovels and went back to digging. Once the top was completely uncovered, King took a crow bar to the wooden coffin.

"They buried him in some lousy wooden box?" Lucy complained as King began prying the lid off of the box. Nikolai grew impatient with King's lack of progress, grabbed another crowbar, and joined him.

Desmond rolled his eyes and refocused on them on the dead poet's wooden home. "Let's just get this over with."

A few straining grunts and expletives later, the coffin top was finally loose from the rest of the coffin. A gust of air carried the stale, dusty smell from inside the coffin and paraded it through the Assassins' noses. "Ugh, this is gonna be hell on my allergies!" King mumbled as he covered his nose with his hand.

"What the?" Lucy gasped as she looked inside the wooden box. Everyone else's eyes, except Alice's, were glued to the container in the dirt. Mouths agape, the five Assassins stood at the edge of the grave and stared in amazed confusion.

"Let me see!" the impatient Alice exclaimed as she wriggled her way through Nikolai and Lucy. "Where the hell is the body?" The question sounded more morbid than she intended. The rest of the group all starred at her in horror. "Hello! He isn't here! It's just a bunch of parchment, books, and other random shit! What do we do know?"

Finally, Desmond mustered up the courage and climbed inside the coffin. As he picked up some of the writings that lay peacefully at his knees, he explained, "These aren't pieces of random shit, Alice. I think these are his actual scripts, poems, sonnets…the originals." He shuffled through the papers with excitement, adrenaline flowing through his fingers as he picked papers up and set them down. "A-ha! Here it is. Romeo and Juliet. An original copy."

Lucy and Alice felt a chill shoot up their spine into their brain stem. Their light bulbs finally went off. "Oh my God," they whispered in unison.

Desmond paid no attention to the rest of the group as he felt the history, the nostalgia, the desire, the passion, flow through his veins as he touched the fragile pieces of paper. Suddenly, he froze where he knelt.

"What is it?" Lucy asked with both concern and curiosity.

"The urn," Desmond said as he pointed to the small vase at the head of the coffin. "His ashes must be in there."

"Well, did you find the paper you were looking for?" Michael inquired with impatience.

"No, but I haven't checked the urn," Desmond mumbled. He searched through the pile of papers a little longer hoping that Shakespeare didn't literally mean 'buried with me.' Giving up hope, he reached for the vase and protectively cradled it.

Alice's eyes shot open like a deer looking at headlights. "You aren't gonna open that are you?"

Desmond sighed and but gave no reply. He untied the Assassin sash that was wrapped around the lid to keep it attached to the body of the vase. The knob felt ice cold and fiery hot at the same time between his thumb and fingertips.

Either in disgust or respect, the five Assassins around the grave turned around and stared at their feet while Desmond searched the collection of ashes inside the urn.

"Found it," Desmond said ominously. He climbed out of the grave and faced the rest of his friends. "I but everything back in its rightful place. Let's but the lid back on and rebury the coffin."

"What?" Michael shouted in frustration. "That stuff in there is worth millions, if not billions! At the very least, all that belongs in a museum!" he suggested, or demanded rather, to the group.

"Mike! What did we say about keeping it down?!" Nikolai shouted in a whisper. "Shut up!"

"But-," Michael started to reply.

"But nothing. It's Desmond's ancestor; he should be the one who decides what happens with the contents."

Desmond nodded his head in thanks towards Nikolai and said to Michael, "I'm not removing any of it. He was obviously in love with what he did to have all of his work buried with him. And five minutes ago you didn't even want to dig up the grave! I think we can look past our greed for once and show some fucking respect!"

Michael rolled his eyes, turned around, and slowly paced back and forth. Lucy tried to make out some phrases that he was mumbling, but all she could understand was a couple of 'fucks' here and there.

Once the lid was back on the coffin and the dirt once again filled the grave, the six Assassins started tracing the steps they took to the cemetery. Alice didn't feel like 'sneaking' around the forest this time. No one really felt as happy and peppy as they did before they unearthed Shakespeare's grave.

"Shh," King ordered the group as he raised his hand up for them to stop walking. "I hear something…someone."

Everyone was dying to ask him questions, but they followed his orders. They were positioned at the edge of the forest were a clearing opened up in a square type shape.

Desmond let his Eagle Vision take over and scanned the clearing and forest edge with his sight. He could make out a big blob of red to their right, but it had no definite shape. That soon changed as it made its way closer him and his friends. Seven, eight, no, ten red forms were obviously walking towards them, and they suddenly stopped once they were in the clearing.

"Good evening, Mr. Miles," a voice greeted cheerfully.

Even though he couldn't make out who the people were with his Eagle Vision sight, he knew that voice anywhere. Once his normal sight took control, he focused on the man leading the group opposite them. "Evening, Doc," he replied coolly. "I think that senility has finally caught up with you. You won't find any live subjects out here to torture, observe, and go on time-traveling field trips for you. They are kinda dead."

Vidic chuckled from the depths of the stomach. "You never fail in humoring me, Mr. Miles." The other nine Abstergo employees stood in attention behind Vidic. It was obvious they were his body guards.

Vidic continued talking about some random shit, but no one on Desmond's side paid attention. They were too busy focusing their peripheral vision on Desmond. Desmond noticed Lucy shift her weight from the back of her feet to her toes. He wrapped his hand around hers and shook his head at her. "Wait," he mouthed.

"…And to be quite frank with you, I am not here for any of the skeletons out here. I'm here for what's in your pocket." Vidic let a victorious grin stretch across his face.

_How the hell did he know about that? _The Assassins thought to themselves.

A sharp and cold object pressed against the front of Desmond's neck. Someone was behind him holding a knife at his neck, and everyone but he could see who it was. All he could see was that all of his friends' eyes were wide with anger, terror, defeat, and betrayal. Lucy's gripped his hand tighter, but it was suddenly torn away from Desmond's grip. Her deep blues were full of panic for what could and probably would happen to Desmond. Alice looked like a tiger backed into a corner. King and Nicolai snarled like a pair of livid dogs about to attack someone. Michael was…nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry about this Desmond," Michael said with no remorse in his voice. He sounded smug more than anything. "I got to be honest. The whole lot of you Assassins are dumber than Vidic told me."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Somewhere in Venice That Same Night**

Shaun and Rebecca were in a hotel room along the river. Rebecca was frantically searching though the luggage, bed sheets, and even a stack of papers on the desk in front of the river view window. Shaun hobbled his way into the living area of the room on his newly purchased cane.

"Are you going to call them or not?" Shaun barked at Rebecca.

"I'm looking for the damn phone, you crippled fuck!" Rebecca screamed back.

Shaun was taken by surprise at Rebecca's anger and comment. He stopped hobbling dead in his tracks and watched her as she kept searching every nook and cranny of the desk. "Have you checked the nightstand? I saw it there last night," he suggested apologetically.

"I'll go look," she hissed back. She briskly walked passed him, so he couldn't keep up with her as he followed. "You think the fucking hotel could at least have a damn phone in the room!" After a few seconds of searching the top of the nightstand, Rebecca saw the little cell phone on the floor beside it. "Found it!"

Shaun stood in the doorway of the small bedroom and said, "You should call them right away." His eyes were red and glossy, and he swallowed as he tried to hold back tears. Rebecca's words had hurt him more than he thought.

"Right," she replied. Her fingers mashed the buttons as she dialed the number Lucy had last called from; she placed the phone up to her ear as the phone rang and noticed the wounded expression on Shaun's face. "I'm so sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean that…I just…Shaun…what is gonna happen to them?"

Before Shaun could answer Rebecca, someone on the other end of the line did. "Hello? Lucy?" Rebecca asked. Shaun watched as she listened to the person on the other end. Whatever they said must have been important by what Rebecca's expression led him to believe. "That's all well and good, but I have something more urgent to talk about. Vidic, Abstergo, they know Desmond and Lucy are with you guys! As far as I know, they are going after ya'll as we speak!"

Shaun closed his eyes as he thought about what might happen to Lucy and Desmond. He knew deep down inside that if Abstergo finds and captures or kills them, it would be his fault.

* * *

I will do my best to get the next chapter done this weekend, but have oodles of papers to write. I shall try my best. The next chapter will begin with Shaun and Rebecca finding out how Vidic is now after Lucy and Desmond. And end at the beginning of the scene in this chapter. Then it will continue with our main heroes.

Anyways, thanks for reading, reviewing, and please be honest in your comments. If there is something I can improve, please tell me.

~whyduyacare


	12. New Story!

With the new game coming out in November, I am getting back into the spirit of writing. However, my story is not up to date with the most recent installment to the franchise, so I feel continuing my story as it is would be awkward. And with the new game coming out, I want to be able to be inspired by elements from that game as well in order to have the ability to continue this story until I decide how it all ends. I have decided to not continue with Ascension of the Assassin, but I am working on creating a new one this month. If any of my old readers are still out there or if any new ones care to reply to this, let me know if there is anything you would like to see come out of the new story. It will pick up where my frist story left off: Desmond discovering his ability to access memories outside of the animus. And I have to keep the notion of Shakespeare being an Assassins spy. Just took a class on the guy this past semester, so I have a lot of juicy information and side plots to add to that. Anyways, I am still alive and WILL start this back up. So please, let me know what you would like to see come out of this story. The reason I started the second story was because everyone enjoyed the first one so much. This is all for you. I still get comments and messages saying I need to finish the story, and it has truly inspired me to salvage this wreck I left behind.

See ya in the new story,

~whyduyacare


	13. Italian: It's What's for Dinner Tonight

**Hello world and all who inhabit it! I know I posted an update a few weeks ago saying I was quitting this story, but I just couldn't kill it like that. So, I have started it back up again. I am sorry it took this long after I posted that note, but I got sick after 4th of July, and then battled an extremely brutal sunburn shortly after. Wasn't really in the mood to write. But alas, I have finished another chapter and am ready to continue this puppy. **

**I haven't written much of anything in a while, so my writing may be a bit off. If so, please bear with me as I get back into the swing of things. Also, for those of you who have read the previous chapters, please let me know if this update does not seem to flow with anything, whether it be factual, characters, or my style. **

**Summary: This chapter picks up with Shaun and Rebecca, who are in Italy, and starts to explain the ending of the previous chapter. That is all I have to say about that. **

* * *

**Venice 2012**

"I can't believe you spent 250 dollars on that thing!" Rebecca shouted as Shaun sped his way out of an antique shop near their hotel, Rebecca following closely behind his feet, urm…wheels.

Shaun's face beamed with pride as he cradled the long and thin item wrapped in a light brown paper. "And it was worth much more than that, too! Damn Italians do not know fine Agarwood wood from the drift wood that shows up on their shores. This cane was a steal!"

Rebecca, normally the easy going and laid back member of the now separated foursome, was annoyed beyond belief. "And how do you propose we make up for that large expense, Shaun? I refuse to sell myself on the streets of Venice, and God knows that with that third leg you bought, no one would even consider sleeping with you!"

"With this 'third leg,' the wheelchair is no longer necessary. Desmond helped me rig this baby to reach a speed of 10 mph," he explained as they approached the entrance to the hotel lobby. "It should sell like a hotcake!"

"So you are going to sell the chair? The one you lost your virginity in?" Rebecca tried to clarify.

Shaun snorted but kept the same pace with his chair. "I'll have you know that you were not my first, Rebecca. Believe it or not, I was a rather popular lad back in college. The ladies adored me! Maybe because I got out of the house every once and again to get some sun so my skin wouldn't look as pasty white and unattractive as yours." And with that last remark, Shaun cranked up the speed in his chair and speed off, his middle finger waving proudly in the air, while Rebecca froze in the lobby and pouted.

**Later that evening…**

Shaun, equipped with his new cane, walked in the living area of their small hotel room to find a disgruntled Rebecca trying to untangle a few blue and yellow cables from one of her duffle bag straps. "How's it going in here? I'm all set up in the bedroom. I can't get access to certain applications on my database though." Shaun paused for a moment, rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, and with a raised eyebrow and small grin, he asked, "Uhh, you need some help with that?"

"I've almost got these bitches untangled. We should be able to get started on gathering Intel as soon as I can establish an internet connection. Damn hotel room has no wi-fi to hack or phone lines to hook up my modem." Rebecca mumbled curses under her breath as she continued connecting wires and equipment to each other.

Shaun's grin disappeared as his lips pursed into a look of concern. "Can you get access to any of the neighboring wi-fi establishments?" he asked hopefully.

"That's my next plan. There is a house a few buildings over that has a signal. It's weak, but it's better than what we have…or don't have. Shit! I could have sworn I tied these in a simple loop knot so I wouldn't have to deal with this shit!" Rebecca yelled in frustration. Despite her hard efforts, she seemed to make the tangled mess even worse than it was when Shaun first walked into the room.

Feeling both sorry for Rebecca and anxious to finish setting up their equipment, Shaun volunteered to untangle the cables while Rebecca went out venturing to establish an internet connection.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shaun, who was now sitting on the large chair next to Rebecca's cable bag, had just finished putting labels on the cables he managed to untangle. Yells in Italian could be heard down the hall that ran in front of their room, and the man shouting didn't sound friendly at all. It was difficult to make out, but Shaun could pull bits and pieces of words, most of them expletives and something about trespassing and theft. Shaun stood up as quick as his legs would allow him, crabbed his cane and pistol from the coffee table in front of him, and prepared himself for whatever might happen. He took cover behind the lip of wall that separated the tiny kitchen from the living room when he heard a loud boom at the room door. Shaun flinched, but kept a steady grip on his pistol as he raised it towards the door. Then, the door was forcefully opened. Rebecca slid through the opening as quickly as she could, and pressed the weight of her entire body against the door as she slammed it shut. Shaun could no longer make out the shouts of Italian as they were mixed with loud thuds on the other side of the door as if someone were banging their fists against the wood.

Stunned at what he was seeing, Shaun quickly hobbled from his cover and demanded, "What the fuck is going on, Rebecca?"

Breathing rather heavily as she wiped the sweat off her face as it dripped from her pores, she managed to say on exhales, "Explain later." *inhale* "Just help me" *inhale* "keep this door closed!"

Not sensing any real danger, Shaun stuffed his pistol in his pants pocket after switching the safety on and hobbled over to help Rebecca. "I hope you are aware that this is not the kind of attention we need right now," he chided as he wedged his cane under the door handle. They locked the all the locks on the door, including a few pad locks they had installed immediately upon arrival, and walked backwards into the living area, their eyes both fixed on the door. They stood in the foyer for a few minutes before the banging finally stopped, and the sounds of stomping faded as the man gave up and walked back down the hall.

Shaun turned to Rebecca, who was still staring at the door with her mouth open as she continued to try and catch her breath. "Please tell me what that was all about." Rebecca's eyes cut upwards to look at Shaun as she grinned slightly, her face still pointing towards the door. "On second thought, I don't want to know. Did you manage to do _anything_ productive while you were out?" he asked, trying to sound fierce.

Rebecca slowly turned her body to face Shaun. Her breathing was even again, but she was still exhaling through her grinning mouth. "I managed to connect using the signal from that house, but the guy saw me tampering with the wires outside his house and started throwing kitchenware at me." Rebecca paused for a moment so that Shaun could respond, but the confused and doubtful look on his face told her that she should just continue with her story. "I started running from the guy once he started chasing me. Guy ran like some Scandavian Olympic track runner or something. Luckily, I managed to rig his wires with one of my fancy new pocket modems so that we have instant and fast connection. Stuck it in flower pot by the window. That ass hole has no idea!" Rebecca proclaimed proudly.

Shaun tilted his head to the side, and the expression on his face looked like he was thinking, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted. "Have you gone mental?"

"Hey! Don't get all parental on me here. He was just some local," she retored.

"And how to you know that, Rebecca?" Shaun quickly returned.

"I did a thorough back ground check on the guy. Likes to listen to that blind Italian singer. Antonio Brochelli or something like. Bought several of his albums through his credit card."

"_Andrea Bocelli!_" Shaun corrected. "Look, whatever. Let's just finish getting set up so we can get caught up. Lucy and Desmond have probably already found the damn Apple and are having a pint with Lucy's brother right now as we speak."

"Tessssstttttyyy!" Rebecca teased. "I like it when you get angry. Alright, let's get this party started. I'll finish setting up all the equipment, and you can do…wh-whatever it is that you do with all them books."

"Fine. And by the way, I organized, labeled, and categorized all your wires for you. You can thank me later. Wear that lacey black thing you bought this morning."

**Several days later…**

Water droplets trickled down the bedroom window as rained poured from the heavy rainclouds outside. Shaun was shuffling through some papers at the small desk in the bedroom while Rebecca was on the phone with an Assassin who was in London.

"Have you found out if our iformation was legit?" Shaun asked Rebecca, his voice slightly raised so that Rebecca could hear him over both the storm and the phone against her ear.

"Randall seems to think so," she shouted back. The previous day had landed the two a startling bit of information. Vidic was seen in an airport in one of London's neighboring cities. Rebecca had managed to hack security cameras in a few of the main airports in the major cities throughout Europe. She had one of those facial recognition programs, like the ones seen in cop shows, running on all the footage she collected. The scans were looking for any sign of Vidic or any of his cronies that followed him hawks. Lucy had given Rebecca the files and pictures of most of these Abstergo agents before they parted ways weeks ago.

"…do you have any idea what they might be doing there?" Rebecca asked Randall as she made her way into the bedroom. Randall was an Assassin spy, much like Lucy, and he was operating with Abstergo in London. His clearance and rank, however, was not as high as Lucy's had been, making his available information limited.

"Are you sure his line is secured?" whispered Shaun, concerned that the phone conversation could be intercepted.

"He is on a pay phone," she said to Shaun. "Thanks for the tip, Randall. You be careful out there. Can't afford to lose another of our inside guys." Rebecca's voice was grim. She hung up her cell phone, placed it on the night stand, and sat on the bed as she gazed at the storm through the display of the window.

"What did he say?" Shaun asked softly, his voice full of more concern.

Rebecca sighed as she shook her head. Her gaze drifted to her feet, then her eyes looked up to Shaun, who was now sitting at his desk. "We need to monitor Vidic's movements. Randoll confirmed his arrival near London. I'm afraid he might know about Stratford."

Shaun's mouth dropped with horror as he thought of what might happen to Lucy and Desmond if this were true. But more importantly, how would Vidic have found out?

The glow from a lightning strike filled the room as it passed through their window, and the following thunder rattled the walls of their hotel room. Someone on their side, an Assassin, had to be tipping off the Templars about their plans…

* * *

**Thanks for anyone who has stuck with this story despite my lack of commitment to it. I have commitment issues. My plans are to change that character flaw, or at least put it on a leash so I can finish this story. Anyways, criticism is the best way to make things better. If something needs criticism, then by all means let me know. I don't know when the next chapter will be updated, but I've started outlining it. I'm shooting for next weekend, maybe during the week if I get lucky. Also, still working on that new story. I'm debating whether or not I will create my own main characters or continue to use our favorite foursome. Let me know what you think. The plot, however, will not follow the games at all. So be forewarned.**

**Thanks again for R/R!**

**~whyduyacare **


	14. What's for Dessert, Baby?

Hello world and all who inhabit it! Sorry for this extremely long wait for this update, but classes have kept me busy. That and WoW. Ironically, the one week I find time for free writing time is the week before midterms.

Anyways, this chapter picks up with Desmond and company after they encounter Vidic in the cemetery where Shakespeare was buried, fictitiously speaking of course. I reaize it is shorter than my usual chapter, but this is really a short scene anyway. The story itself is getting to the climax, so expect more stories to have death in it. I haven't killed enough people. This isn't a romance story after all.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Vidic does...actually, I would hope not.

* * *

**England – The Cemetery**

_(continued from the last time we saw Desmond and company)_

Desmond let his Eagle Vision take over and scanned the clearing and forest edge with his sight. He could make out a big blob of red to their right, but it had no definite shape. That soon changed as it made its way closer him and his friends. Seven, eight, no, ten red forms were obviously walking towards them, and they suddenly stopped once they were in the clearing.

"Good evening, Mr. Miles," a voice greeted cheerfully.

Even though he couldn't make out who the people were with his Eagle Vision sight, he knew that voice anywhere. Once his normal sight took control, he focused on the man leading the group opposite them. "Evening, Doc," he replied coolly. "I think that senility has finally caught up with you. You won't find any live subjects out here to torture, observe, and go on time-traveling field trips for you. They are kinda dead."

Vidic chuckled from the depths of the stomach. "You never fail in humoring me, Mr. Miles." The other nine Abstergo employees stood in attention behind Vidic. It was obvious they were his body guards.

Vidic continued talking about some random bullshit, but no one on Desmond's side paid attention. They were too busy focusing their attention on Desmond as if waiting for him to give them an order. Desmond noticed Lucy shift her weight from the back of her feet to her toes. He wrapped his hand around hers and shook his head at her. "Wait," he mouthed.

"…And to be quite frank with you, I am not here for any of the skeletons out here. I'm here for what's in your pocket." Vidic let a victorious grin stretch across his face.

_How the hell did he know about that? _The Assassins thought to themselves.

A sharp and cold object pressed against the front of Desmond's neck. Someone was behind him holding a knife at his neck, and everyone but he could see who it was. All he could see was that all of his friends' eyes were wide with anger, terror, defeat, and betrayal. Lucy's gripped Desmond's hand tighter, but it was suddenly torn away from him. Her eyes were full of panic for what could and probably would happen to Desmond. Alice looked like a tiger backed into a corner. King and Nikolai snarled like a pair of livid dogs about to attack someone. Michael was…nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry about this Desmond," Michael said with absolutely no remorse in his voice. He sounded smug more than anything. Michael's wrapped his free arm around Desmond's chest while his other pressed a knife firmly against the exposed skin of Desmond's neck. "I got to be honest. The whole lot of you Assassins are dumber than Vidic told me."

"You filthy bastard!" Nikolai hissed as started making his way towards Michael. Before Nikolai had the chance to make more than five steps, a loud crack echoed through the clearing. Birds flew wildly away in every direction that was opposite from where the sound came. Their caws, however, could not be heard over the initial shouts and gasps from the shock of the obvious gunshot; screams of unbearable agony and torment followed shortly after.

Michael turned around so that he and Desmond were now facing the small group of Assassins. Desmond saw Nikolai, who was flailing on the damp ground, clutching what was left of his shoulder. His left arm was lying lifelessly a few feet behind him. Desmond felt his stomach sink to his knees as he saw Alice running towards her comrade.

"Nikolai!" she screamed as she knelt down beside him. She pressed her hands firmly on the gushing wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding, but it only made Nikolai scream more fiercely.

"It would be in your best interests to come quietly, Desmond. I may even let your friends live if you do," Vidic offered as he continued to grin devilishly at Desmond. The tone of his voice, however, made it obvious that Vidic was lying. Vidic and his guards made their way closer to the group of Assassins so that they were only around fifteen feet from Desmond and Michael.

Three of the guards approached Lucy, King, Alice, and Nikolai. "You won't be needing those things anymore," Vidic 'suggested' when he saw King look down at the pistol that was attached to his right leg. Realizing that attempting to fight back now with Desmond's life at stake was too risky, the other Assassins removed what weapons they had on their person and tossed them aside. Two of the three guards each took Lucy and Nikolai in their possession, the barrels of their anxious rifles pointed at the back of their helpless targets' necks.

The third guard made an attempt to grab Alice's arms, but she fought to keep her hands on Nicolai's wound. After one of her elbows made contact with the guards gut, he promptly shoved his gun in her face and stomped on Nikolai's shoulder. "Get the fuck up, you bitch, or I'll take off his other arm." Nikolai began crying and pleading with the guard, who was ignoring the desperate man's every word. Alice surrendered to the forceful guard, and the guard quickly wiped his bloody boot on the grass. "Go stand next to your blonde friend," he ordered as he led her next to Lucy and King.

Desmond tried to think of a plan that could possibly get them out of this situation, but with six armed guards behind Vidic and three others waiting to kill his friends at any moment, Desmond decided trying anything would be suicidal. Stalling would be his next best option. "How did you find us, Doc?" Desmond asked with a shaky voice.

Vidic, very prideful in his victories and successes, replied, "Back when you were my _patient_ at Abstergo, I had one of the doctors on staff insert a small tracking device in your back. I hadn't planned on your escape, but on the off chance that it happened, I wanted to cover my ass. With Lucy being the 'advocate for distressed and troubled patients,' I didn't bother informing her."

Lucy's eyes narrowed as she stared Vidic down, but movement in the woods behind Vidic caught her gaze instead. Vidic noticed the shift in direction of her eyes and commented, "Ah, yes. That would be my dogs. Very testy creatures when they are hungry. I suspect they smell the blood from your whiny friend over there." Vidic nodded in Nikolai's direction, and everyone focused their attention on fallen Assassin. His cries were quieter now, intermixed with mumbles that could not be deciphered by anyone present. Horror flooded the Assassins' faces as they put two and two together: Vidic intended on feeding Nikolai to his dogs. A few of the guards even had looks of discomfort and sympathy about what would become of the helpless man, but they didn't dare act on those feelings.

"Let's move them back into the brush over there," Vidic ordered his guards. "I don't like getting in the way when _they_ fight over their food." Once they reached the cover of the brush, Vidic whistled two notes that resembled a quail's call. Loud barking promptly followed in response.

Lucy managed to get a peak around one of the guards to get a glance at the beasts dashing towards Nikolai. _Dobermans. _Lucy remembered some of the sweetest and gentlest Dobermans from her childhood, but she also knew that if trained to be, they could also be the most vicious. She turned her head and tried to block out the sounds of Nikolai's wails of torment and the sounds of his flesh tearing and bones breaking.

Once the ruckus in the clearing was over, Vidic let out a sigh of satisfaction and asked behind a devilish grin, "Anyone ready for _dessert_?"

* * *

Hopefully, I can crank out another chapter in a week or so. I'll be sure to post it as soon as I am done. Plese R/R and let me know what you think. Criticism is the only way to make anything better! Also, I noticed I started spelling Nikolai's name wrong, so if I failed to correct one or two of the misspellings, forgive me.

~whyduacare


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